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Experimental Platform for Obtaining Electrical Resistance
of a Shape Memory Alloy Actuator
Wislayne Dayanne P. da Silva, Tony Carlos Moura Cavalcanti, Jaidilson J
´
o da Silva
a
and Angelo Perkusich
Department of Eletrical Engineer, Federal University of Campina Grande, Campina Grande, Paraiba, Brazil
Keywords:
Deformation, Electronic Instrumentation, Electrical Resistance, Shape Memory Alloy Actuator, Strain-Gauge.
Abstract:
Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) are unique metallic materials with the Shape Memory Effect (SME), which
refers to a material’s capacity to recover its original shape through temperature variation subjected to defor-
mations. These alloys are commonly used as actuators to control vibration, deformation, position and have
been used in several sectors in the last decades. Therefore, in order to enable a study about the behavior of
the electrical resistance of an SMA actuator and the deformation measurement using strain-gauge sensors, an
experiment is proposed in this work to be applied to the course of Electronic Instrumentation Laboratory of
Electrical Engineering Degree at the Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil. We used an experimental
platform composed of a steel beam and an SMA actuator, and we also developed the necessary electronic
system and Human Machine Interface. The experiment consists of activating the actuator by applying electric
current and obtaining data corresponding to its electrical resistance and beam deformation. With the experi-
ment’s realization, the students will be able to draw the behavior curves and prepare a report with the analyses.
1 INTRODUCTION
Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) are metal alloys that,
when submitted to deformations, return to their orig-
inal shape after a thermal cycle. This effect is known
as the Shape Memory Effect (SME), and it was dis-
covered in 1963 by Willian J. Buehler from research
developed with nickel-titanium alloys (NiTi) at the
Naval Ordinance Laboratory (NOL) in Maryland,
USA. In the 1960s, SME was observed in other alloys
besides nickel-titanium, Cobalt (Co), and Iron (Fe).
The addition of these two elements allowed a reduc-
tion in the transformation temperatures of the alloys
(Lagoudas, 2008).
Later on, titanium-palladium (TiPd), titanium-
platinum (TiPt), and titanium-gold (TiAu) alloys were
used for high-temperature applications. However, it
was only in 1980 that SMA started to be used more
widely since the effect was better understood. Cur-
rently, SMA comprises a unique class of materials,
which presents the capacity to recover from the orig-
inal form when its temperature is increased and has
the characteristic of superelasticity. When increasing
the temperature, the form can be recovered from the
a
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1273-7865
application of high loads, which cause high densities
of actuation energy (Lagoudas, 2008).
SMA actuators are widely used in sensing, impact
absorption, and vibration damping applications in this
context. Of the different industrial sectors that are ap-
plied, stand out: aerospace, automotive, biomedical,
dental, orthopedic, robotic, and oil.
Thus, in this work, we propose an experiment to
obtain an SMA wire actuator’s electrical resistance
behavior. Therefore, we developed an experimental
platform for which a mechanical structure was used,
composed of a steel beam and an SMA wire actuator.
Also, we developed an electronic system and a user
interface. The platform makes it possible to carry out
experiments to obtain the SMA’s electrical resistance
and measure the beam’s deformation caused by elec-
trical current application in the actuator.
The proposed experiment is to be applied in the
course of Electronic Instrumentation Laboratory of
the Electrical Engineering Degree at UFCG Brazil for
studies of sensors and actuators. The work’s main
motivation was the importance of carrying out experi-
ments in the laboratory as a learning tool in Engineer-
ing courses, allowing students to apply the concepts
presented in the classroom.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In
P. da Silva, W., Cavalcanti, T., Jó da Silva, J. and Perkusich, A.
Experimental Platform for Obtaining Electrical Resistance of a Shape Memory Alloy Actuator.
DOI: 10.5220/0010438203150322
In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2021) - Volume 1, pages 315-322
ISBN: 978-989-758-502-9
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2021 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
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