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Smart soft composite: An integrated 3D soft morphing structure using bend-twist coupling of anisotropic materials

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Abstract

Traditionally, hard or high-stiffness materials are used to achieve morphing but only with limited magnitudes of deformation. Soft and low-stiffness materials are required to implement soft morphing with large deformations. In this paper, a novel concept for soft morphing structures that makes use of smart soft composites (SSC) is introduced. These materials have the following characteristics: 1) Large deformations from smart actuators and soft anisotropic materials embedded in a soft matrix material, 2) Utilization of the coupling effect for in-plane/bending/twisting deformations of the morphing structure to achieve complex morphed shapes, 3) Semi-automated three-dimensional (3D) fabrication via 3D printing processes. Classical lamination theory is used to express in-plane deformation, out-of-plane deformation, and twisting and coupling of these deformations. 3D-printed-scaffold and/or weaving methods can be used to fabricate anisotropic materials for SSCs. An integrated SSC in a cantilever shape is fabricated using SMA (Shape memory alloy)/ABS/PDMS and tested as an example to show large deformation with bend/twist coupling effect.

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Abbreviations

N:

axial force per unit width

M:

moment per unit width

ɛ 0 :

in-plane strain

κ :

curvature

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering/Seoul National University Institute of Advanced Machinery and Design(SNU-IAMD), Seoul National University, Kwanakro 599, Shinrim-dong, Kwanak-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 151-742

    Sung-Hoon Ahn

  2. School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Kwanakro 599, Shinrim-dong, Kwanak-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 151-742

    Kyung-Tae Lee, Hyung-Jung Kim, Renzhe Wu, Ji-Soo Kim & Sung-Hyuk Song

Authors
  1. Sung-Hoon Ahn
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  2. Kyung-Tae Lee
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  3. Hyung-Jung Kim
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  4. Renzhe Wu
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  5. Ji-Soo Kim
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  6. Sung-Hyuk Song
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Correspondence to Sung-Hoon Ahn.

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Ahn, SH., Lee, KT., Kim, HJ. et al. Smart soft composite: An integrated 3D soft morphing structure using bend-twist coupling of anisotropic materials. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf. 13, 631–634 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-012-0081-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-012-0081-8

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