Degradation of NiTi springs through electronic actuation

Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) have the unique ability to recover its shape when heated. NiTi is a common SMA that is used mainly in orthodontic wires and light actuators such as on the NASA Pathfinder. However, when used in springs, the long-term reliability of these actuation forces has rarely been investigated. As SMAs are non-ferrous, it can be deduced that some structural degradation occurs %in the NiTi alloy springs due to fatigue. Due to SMA NiTi's high electrical resistance, actuation is most convenient through resistive heating. Therefore, this thesis evaluates the degradation of the consequent actuation force through electronic heating over the expected lifetime of 10.000 cycles. Results showed exponential decay with a maximum 6\% force degradation over 10.000 iterations.

Author dc:creator

• Sævar Örn Einarsson 1992-

Contributors dc:contributor

• Háskólinn í Reykjavík

• Vél- og orkutæknifræði
• Málmar
• Metals
• Shape memory alloys
• Mechanical engineering

Language dc:language.iso

is

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1946/26099

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:skemman.is:1946/26099