Synchronous deployed design concept triggered by carbon fibre reinforced shape memory polymer composites

Synchronous deployments for symmetrical structures such as solar arrays and antennas are desired because they are conducive to subsequent attitude stabilization. In this work, we propose a synchronous deployed mechanism triggered by shape memory polymer composites (SMPCs). Firstly, the material design was developed according to the fibre microbuckling behaviour of unidirectional carbon fibre reinforced laminates undergoing flexural deformation to balance high mechanical requirements and large deploy/fold ratio desirements. Then, two resins with different glass transition temperatures (Tgs) from a similar shape memory epoxy system were used for fabrication. These laminates with different fibre volume fractions, thicknesses, matrices and fibre distributions were tested by three-point bending tests to evaluate their mechanical performance. Recovery tests were carried out under different environmental temperatures. In addition, the recovery stimulated by resistor heaters in vacuum endowed the mechanism with good recovery robustness. Finally, functional validation on an aluminium prototype showed good synchronization. This design concept has the advantage of being lightweight, low-impact and highly reliable. It is expected to provide a reasonable and robust solution for synchronous deployments.