Flexural analysis of thermally actuated fiber reinforced shape memory polymer composite

Shape Memory Polymer Composites (SMPC) have gained popularity over the last few decades due to its flexible shape memory behaviour over wide range of strains and temperatures. In this paper, non-linear bending analysis has been carried out for SMPC beam under the application of uniformly distributed transverse load (UDL). Simplified C0 continuity Finite Element Method (FEM) based on Higher Order Shear Deformation Theory (HSDT) has been adopted for flexural analysis of SMPC. The numerical solutions are obtained by iterative Newton Raphson method. Material properties of SMPC with Shape Memory Polymer (SMP) as matrix and carbon fibre as reinforcements, have been calculated by theory of volume averaging. Effect of temperature on SMPC has been evaluated for numerous parameters for instance number of layers, aspect ratio, boundary conditions, volume fraction of carbon fiber and laminate stacking orientation. Moreover, deflection profile over unit length and behavior of stresses across thickness are also presented to elaborate the effect of glass transition temperature (Tg). Present study provides detailed explanation on effect of different parameters on the bending of SMPC beam for large strain over a broad span of temperature from 273-373K, which encompasses glass transition region of SMPC.