Experimental study and modeling of a TiNi shape memory alloy wire actuator

Abstract

Shape memory alloys (SMA) are often used as actuators in miniature articulated devices In this paper a single TiNi SMA wire loaded by a mass is studied as a basic actuator controlled by Joule's effect First, we describe an experimental study of the wire (150 μm in diameter) under coupled stress and temperature actions for different thermal input velocities in order to analyze its dynamical behavior. In the case of static loadings, modeling is performed with a macroscopic description of the thermomechanical behavior preformed by Leclercq and Lexcellent (1996). Then, the heat equation integration is sufficient to take into account the thermal input velocities. Comparison between experiment and modeling is fairly correct.