Proposal of SMP actuator modeled by FDM 3D printer

Abstract

An actuator using the shape memory polymer (SMP) formed by fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer was devised. The behavior of this SMP actuator was experimentally estimated in heating and cooling process. The results obtained can be summarized as follows. (1) The thicker the SMP actuator, the larger the force is. The thicker the SMP actuator, the larger the radius of curvature is. (2) The bidirectional SMP actuator shows repetitive behavior except the 1st cycle. (3) The SMP actuator can be expected as a bidirectional actuator made by FDM 3D printer.