Evaluation of the damage suppression effect of Ti-Ni shape memory alloy foils embedded in carbon fiber reinforced plastic laminates

Abstract

In this research, shape memory alloy (SMA) foils were embedded into carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) cross-ply laminates. When the tensile pre-strained SMA foil is heated, the SMA produces appropriate compressive stress (recovery stress) to suppress the transverse cracks in the laminates. In order to investigate the damage suppression effect, tensile loading–unloading tests were conducted for the CFRP cross-ply laminates. The test results implied that the recovery stress of embedded SMA foil suppressed the occurrence and the progress of the transverse crack. Then, to confirm that the damage suppression effect was caused by the embedded SMA foil, the one-dimensional (1D) shear-lag model considering the behavior of SMA was newly derived. Using this model, the progress of transverse crack density was predicted probabilistically. The simulation results showed the same tendency as the experimental results. As a result, it was proved that the embedment of SMA foils into CFRP laminates is effective to suppress the occurrence and growth of the transverse cracks.