Variable stiffness materials for
reconfigurable surface applications
Made by: Bizhetskiy Arseniy, 117M
Article: McKnight G., Henry C. Variable stiffness materials for reconfigurable surface applications //Smart Structures and Materials 2005: Active Materials: Behavior
and Mechanics. – SPIE, 2005. – Т. 5761. – С. 119-126.
Introduction
Reconfigurable (morphing) surface
concept for a morphing airfoil
made of shape memory polymer
(SMP)
Concept and Approach
High stiffness is achieved by rigid
connection of the stiff elements
(blue hexagons).
Low stiffness is achieved by
allowing these rigid elements to
translate with respect to each
other
Design Tradeoffs
● Length (L) and thickness (t) of the
stiff elements
● Gap between these elements (g)
● The thickness of the variable
stiffness element layer (h)
● The area fraction of stiff elements
within a segmented layer, (𝜈R).
● The overall volume fraction of
stiff elements (𝜈f)
2-D deformation test
Ball on ring test to assess biaxial in-plane strain
recovery
Thank you for your attention
Thermomechanical test
Samples and stiffness plots for select geometry variable stiffness materials showing variance in both
high and low stiffness as a function of different geometries