KODAV

Simulation-based investigation of novel textile-based adaptive fibre-plastic composite structures with shape memory alloy elements for complex deformation patterns

The application of high-performance fibres, such as glass and carbon filament yarns, and their textile processing into semi-finished reinforcement products that meet specific requirements form the basis for highly load-bearing fibre-reinforced composites (FRCs). The systematic integration of actuator and sensor functionalities appropriate to the material enables a significant widening of the range of applications for this class of materials. The DFG project KODAV, which was realized in close cooperation with the Institute for Textile Machinery and High Performance Materials Technology (ITM) at the Dresden University of Technology, was dedicated to the comprehensive research and development of glass fibre-reinforced composites (FRC) with thermosetting matrix systems, into which wire-shaped shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators were specifically integrated into the reinforcement structure using textile technology. To achieve this, both numerical and experimental methods were employed to characterize in detail the complex behaviour of adaptive, textile-reinforced FRP structures with embedded SMA wires and to make them specifically utilizable for functional integration. The robust and efficient simulation methodology developed is based on a fundamental thermomechanical characterisation of the FGL actuators and enables realistic prediction of complex, three-dimensional structural deformations. Based on these findings, adaptive demonstrator structures with graded properties and different textile-integrated SMA actuator wire configuration were successfully manufactured and their functionality experimentally proven. This impressively demonstrated the basic feasibility and potential of the considered approach to functional integration in FRC structures.