Deployable Rocket Nozzle Utilizing Superelastic Titanium Alloy Sheet

Hirobumi Tobe; Yuichi Matsuki; Shinsuke Takeuchi; Eiichi Sato

doi:10.2320/matertrans.MT-MJ2019009

Special Issue on New Aspects of Martensitic Transformations II

Deployable Rocket Nozzle Utilizing Superelastic Titanium Alloy Sheet

Hirobumi Tobe, Yuichi Matsuki, Shinsuke Takeuchi, Eiichi Sato

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Keywords: shape memory alloy, superelasticity, α + β titanium alloy, SP-700, rocket nozzle, deployable structure

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2020 Volume 61 Issue 1 Pages 68-71

DOI https://doi.org/10.2320/matertrans.MT-MJ2019009

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Abstract

A novel deployable rocket nozzle utilizing superelasticity was proposed in this study. Ti–4.5Al–3V–2Fe–2Mo alloy (SP-700) sheets were heat-treated to have appropriate α/β ratio so that the sheet shows superelasticity at room temperature. A miniature nozzle model was fabricated through thinning, cutting, and welding processes of the sheets. Folding-deployment tests of the model were conducted in addition to finite element analyses of its folding behavior. The feasibility of the new concept of superelastically-deployable sheet structure was successfully verified.

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