Investigating potential substrates to maximize out-of-plane deflection of piezoelectric macro-fiber composite actuators

Abstract

The work summarized here explores the application of various substrate materials to macro-fiber composites for the purpose of generating curvature. This research experimentally determines the free strain of the macro-fiber composite through its full range of actuation and then examines the resulting deflections when bonded to various substrates. In addition, loads are applied to the resulting unimorph while in a cantilever configuration and the deflections recorded. These results are used to validate finite element models, which are used to explore further design possibilities, including a bimorph configuration. The goal of this work is to determine the substrates that maximize curvature in both unloaded and loaded configurations. The results show that using thin and high modulus substrates results in the largest deflection under loading.

Keywords

Smart material macro-fiber composite piezoelectric unimorph bimorph morphing warping

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Barrett

Vos

(2008) Post-buckled precompressed subsonic micro-flight control actuators and surfaces. Smart Materials and Structures 17(5): 055011.

Barrett

Gross

Brozoski

(1996) Missile flight control using active flexspar actuators. Smart Materials and Structures 5(2): 121–128.

Barrett

McMurtry

Vos

. (2006) Post-buckled precompressed piezoelectric flight control actuator design, development and demonstration. Smart Materials and Structures 15(5): 1323–1331.

Bilgen

Butt

Day

. (2012) A novel unmanned aircraft with solid-state control surfaces: analysis and flight demonstration. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 24(2): 147–167.

Bilgen

Kochersberger

Inman

(2009) Macro-fiber composite actuators for a swept wing unmanned aircraft. Aeronautical Journal 113(1144): 385–395.

Bilgen

Kochersberger

Inman

. (2010) Macro-fiber composite actuated simply supported thin airfoils. Smart Materials and Structures 19(5): 055010.

Gibson

(2007) Principles of Composite Material Mechanics. 2nd ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Giurgiutiu

(2000) Review of smart-materials actuation solutions for aeroelastic and vibration control. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 11(7): 525–544.

Goo

(2005) Validation of a laminated beam model of LIPCA piezoelectric actuators. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 16(3): 189–195.

10.

High

Wilkie

(2003) Method of Fabricating NASA-Standard Macro-Fiber Composite Piezoelectric Actuators (NASA/TM-2003-212427). 2nd ed. Hampton, VA: Langley Research Center, NASA.

11.

Kudva

(2004) Overview of the DARPA Smart Wing Project. Journal of Intelligent Materials Systems and Structures 15(4): 261–267.

12.

Kudva

Martin

Scherer

. (1999) Overview of the DARPA/AFRL/NASA Smart Wing Program. In: Smart structures and materials 1999: industrial and commercial applications of smart structures technologies, Newport Beach, CA, 1 March, vol. 3674, pp. 230–236. Bellingham, WA: SPIE.

13.

Lerner

(2003) World of Earth Science. Detroit, MI: Gale.

14.

Ohanian

III David

Taylor

. (2013) Piezoelectric morphing versus servo-actuated MAV control surfaces, part II: flight testing. In: 51st AIAA aerospace sciences meeting including the new horizons forum and aerospace exposition, Grapevine, TX, 7–10 January, pp. 1–20. Reston, VA: AIAA.

15.

Ohanian

III Hickling

Stiltner

(2012) Piezoelectric morphing versus servo-actuated MAV control surfaces. In: 53rd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC structures, structural dynamics and materials conference, Honolulu, HI, 23–26 April, pp. 1–18. Reston, VA: AIAA.

16.

Paradies

Ciresa

(2009) Active wing design with integrated flight control using piezoelectric macro fiber composites. Smart Materials and Structures 18(3): 035010.

17.

Prechtl

Hall

(2000) Closed-loop vibration control experiments on a rotor with blade mounted actuation. In: 41st AIAA structures, structural dynamics and materials conference, Atlanta, GA, 3–6 April, pp. 1–15. Reston, VA: AIAA.

18.

Smart Materials Corp. (2013) MFC Engineering Properties. Sarasota, FL: Smart Materials Corp. Available at: http://www.smart-material.com/MFC-product-main.html (accessed 17 July 2013).

19.

Vos

Barrett

De Breuker

. (2007) Post-buckled precompressed elements: a new class of control actuators for morphing wing UAVs. Smart Materials and Structures 16(3): 919–926.

20.

Wickramasinghe

Chen

Martinez

. (2011) Design and verification of a smart wing for an extreme-agility micro-air-vehicle. Smart Materials and Structures 20(12): 125007.

21.

Wickramasinghe

Hagood

(2004) Material characterization of active fiber composites for integral twist-actuated rotor blade application. Smart Materials and Structures 13(5): 1155–1165.

22.

Wilkie

Belvin

Park

(1996) Aeroelastic analysis of helicopter rotor blades incorporating anisotropic piezoelectric twist actuation. In: ASME 1996 world congress and exposition, adaptive structures symposium, proceedings, aerospace division, New York, NY, November 1996. ASME. pp. 1–11.

23.

Wilkie

Bryant

High

. (2000) Low-cost piezocomposite actuator for structural control applications. In: Smart structures and materials 2000: industrial and commercial applications of smart structures technologies, Bremen, June, pp. 323–334. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.388175

24.

Williams

Inman

(2004) Nonlinear Mechanical and Actuation Characterization of Piezoceramic Fiber Composites. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

25.

Yoon

Shin

Park

. (2002) Design and manufacture of a lightweight piezo-composite curved actuator. Smart Materials and Structures 11(1): 163–168.