Shape memory thermal lag and superelastic rate sensitivity of SMA cellular structures

An experimental characterization is presented of the thermo-mechanical response of honeycombs and corrugations made of a NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA). Of particular interest are the shape memory cycle, the superelastic response, the shape memory thermal lag and the superelastic rate sensitivity. A series of in-plane compression experiments are presented on fabricated honeycombs and their responses are compared to typical monolithic SMAs, such as NiTi wire. Given local material strain limits, NiTi honeycombs exhibit an order of magnitude increase in recoverable deformation, both in the shape memory effect and superelastic effect. This comes at the cost of a reduced load carrying capacity by two orders of magnitude and a reduced (homogenized) compressive stiffness by four orders of magnitude. Due to their sparse structure and enhanced heat transfer characteristics, SMA honeycombs exhibit less superelastic rate sensitivity by two orders of magnitude while having similar thermal lag to SMA wire. The implications of these scaling results are discussed, including possible new regimes of application of SMAs for reusable energy absorption devices and high stroke actuators.