Experimental and numerical studies on a novel shape-memory alloy wire–woven trusses capable of undergoing large deformation

Currently, most wire-woven trusses are fabricated with traditional metals such as steel and aluminum, thus the deformation ability is constrained due to the low yield strain of common metals. Shape-memory alloy is a kind of smart material which can bear large recoverable strain while producing hysteresis. Due to the unique capacity of large deformation and remarkable damping property of the shape-memory alloy, a novel lattice trusses assembled by superelastic shape-memory alloy coil springs was proposed. Furthermore, the treatment processes to prepare the shape-memory alloy coil springs and the assembly method to fabricate the shape-memory alloy wire–woven trusses were also introduced. The quasi-static compression under different maximum deformation and temperatures was performed to investigate the mechanical and thermal responses of the proposed shape-memory alloy wire–woven trusses. Cyclic compression tests were also performed to study the functional fatigue of the shape-memory alloy wire–woven trusses. The proposed wire-woven trusses can undergo up to 80% deformation by compression and recover without evident residual deformation after unloading. Finite element analysis simulation of representative volume element under different deformation was presented. Analytical modeling of the stiffness of shape-memory alloy wire–woven trusses was also carried out. Both the numerical and analytical methods can predict the stiffness within a small deviation.