Investigation on actuation and thermo-mechanical behaviour of Shape Memory Alloy spring using hot water

In this paper, hot water is used as an actuation media for Shape memory alloy and its impact on the morphology of structure of Nitinol Shape Memory Alloy (SMA), is presented. With hot water actuation as the temperature reaches 70-80°C, spring gets fully compressed for the first few cycles followed by a displacement loss in actuation. This actuation loss is then studied with different characterization methods such as Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). With SEM results, it can be inferred that the energy source is not deteriorating the structure. Results observed from TGA shows high oxygen content at lower temperature limits with hot water actuation which suggest the need of conducting experiments in inert atmosphere. As a possible mechanism, a new actuation medium is introduced and various results can be seen in the paper discussed below. (paper)