Aerospace, Energy Recovery, and Medical Applications: Shape Memory Alloy Case Studies for CASMART 3rd Student Design Challenge

This collection of case studies presents a brief introduction of fundamental concepts for four SMA-based applications in the aerospace, energy, and medical fields designed by students and facilitated by professionals. The Consortium for the Advancement of Shape Memory Alloy Research and Technology (CASMART) Student Design Challenge is used as an outreach strategy to promote the implementation of state-of-the-art designs with SMA technology and is meant to inspire the next generation of SMA research. Student design challenge teams address real-world problems facing the SMA community and receive guidance and feedback from CASMART members. Student teams’ hardware and materials deliverables had to meet basic function requirements specific to the application. Key results from seven teams (four hardware designs and three materials designs) highlight the design priorities, processes, and challenges raised during development. The hardware designs used NiTi wires shape set and implemented by the students into prototypes for deployment and reorientation mechanisms in small satellites, linear generators to save energy, and a self-apply tourniquet design. Materials development explored the processability and material properties of CuAl-based and NiTi-based alloys for passive actuators in a deployment and reorientation mechanism for a small satellite, energy recovery from waste heat, and a pseudoelastic spinal curvature correction device.