The application of smart structures to helicopter rotors has received widespread study in recent years. This is one of the major thrusts of the Shape Memory Alloy Consortium (SMAC) program. SMAC includes 3 companies and 4 Universities in a cost sharing consortium funded under DARPA Smart Materials and Structures program. This paper describes the objective of the SMAC effort, and its relationship to a previous DARPA smart structure rotorcraft program from which it originated. The SMAC program includes NiTinol fatigue/characterization studies, SMA actuator development, and ferromagnetic SMA material development. The paper summarizes the SMAC effort, and includes background and details on Boeing's development of a SMA torsional actuator for rotorcraft applications. SMA actuation is used to retwist the rotorcraft blade in flight, and result in a significant payload increase for either helicopters or tiltrotors. This paper is also augmented by several other papers in this conference with specific results from other SMAC consortium members.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Shape memory alloy consortium (SMAC)


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Smart Structures and Materials 1999: Industrial and Commercial Applications of Smart Structures Technologies ; 1999 ; Newport Beach,CA,USA


    Published in:

    Publication date :

    1999-07-09





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Shape Memory Alloy Consortium and demonstration

    Clingman, Dan / Jacot, Dean | AIAA | 2000


    SMAC-87

    McHenry, Brian G. / McHenry, Raymond R. | SAE Technical Papers | 1988


    Improvements to the SMAC Program

    Perl,T.R. / Anderson,D.O. / Warner,C.Y. et al. | Automotive engineering | 1983



    Improvements to the SMAC Program

    Warner, Charles Y. / Anderson, Dale O. / Perl, Thomas R. | SAE Technical Papers | 1983