Smart tubular hinge with multi-environment adaptability for rapid elastic and gentle shape memory deployment

Abstract

Smart deployable structures are a crucial solution for reducing spacecraft weight and enhancing rocket space utilization. Traditional deployable structures based on composite materials can only achieve either elastic deployment or shape memory deployment, failing to meet multi-condition, high-intelligence requirements. In this work, we developed a tubular hinge with dual-deformation deployability. For rapid deployment needs, the hinge can be deformed at room temperature and achieve quick elastic deployment within 0.3 s at room or low temperatures. For autonomous fixation and slow deployment, the hinge can be fixed at high temperatures and achieve a gentle shape memory deployment within 100 s. More significantly, the hinge exhibits excellent environmental stability, maintaining superior deployable characteristics even after exposure to high and low-temperature environments and long-term folding. This hinge has been used to the deployment of solar panels and solar sails.