A Morphing Bi-Stable Composite Laminate Actuated by Electric Heating Method

As the “morphing” or “shape adaptive” structural systems are getting considerable attention, a practical realization of a morphing needs substantial effort. This study proposes a concept of morphing bi-stable composite laminate. The morphing bi-stable laminate is locally embedded with electric heating material and has two stable states. The embedded heating material can elevate the temperature and relieve the thermal stress of the region heated by it. With this heating actuation method, an appropriate embedment of heating materials will enable the bi-stable laminate a morphing structure. This morphing bi-stable laminate can transform from one stable state to the other stable state by the heating effect of its heating composition. The FEA of the morphing process of this morphing bi-stable laminate was performed, and the critical temperature of the snap-through phenomenon was predicted. Experiment was conducted to verify the morphing process of this morphing bi-stable laminate, good agreement between the experiment and the FEA results are obtained.