Thermo-Mechanical Characterization of a Shape Memory Alloy Actuator for Passive Thermally Driven Deployable Panel

The design of thermally driven deployable devices is a challenging thermomechanical topic that can be solved by exploiting the characteristics of Shape Memory Alloys (SMA). The SMA mechanical behaviour depends on stress, strain and temperature and the constitutive models available in the literature attempt to provide the relation between these three parameters. Usually, the constitutive equations are based on the thermodynamic equilibrium approach where the temperature and the stress are constant along the material (Brinson model). This work experimentally validates the Brinson model applied to a SMA wire.