Shape Memory Epoxy Foams and Composites: Ribes_foam2 Experiment on Spacecraft “Bion-m1” and Future Perspective

AbstractShape memory epoxy foams and composites were tested in April 2013, on board the BION-M1 spacecraft through the Soyuz-2 launch vehicle, with the aim to study their behaviour in microgravity for future applications. The on-orbit Ribes_Foam2 experiment consisted in the heating of three samples in various configurations having different shapes (a prototype of actuator, a sheet of composite laminate and parallelepiped) packed on ground, to evaluate the shape recovery capabilities in the space environment. As expected, micro-gravity does not affect the ability of the samples to recover their shape in these configurations but it poses limits for the heating system design because of the difference in heat transfer on earth and on orbit. In this work, the main results of the experiment are discussed. They have provided useful information for the development of actuators and deployable structure, highlighting future perspectives

Behavior of shape memory epoxy foams in microgravity: experimental results of STS-134 mission

Shape memory epoxy foams were used for an experiment on the International Space Station to evaluate the feasibility of their use for building multi-functional composite structures. A small equipment was designed and built to simulate the actuation of simple devices in micro-gravity conditions: three different configurations (compression, bending and torsion) were chosen during the memory step of the foams so as to produce their recovery on ISS. Two systems were used for the experimentation to avoid damages of the flight model during laboratory tests; however a single ground experiment was performed also on the flight model before the mission. Micro-gravity does not affect the ability of the foams to recover their shape but it poses strong limits for the heating system design because of the difference in heat transfer on earth and in orbit. A full recovery of the foam samples was not achieved due to some limitations in the maximum allowable temperature on ISS for safety reasons: anyway a 70% recovery was also measured at a temperature of 110°C. Ground laboratory experiments showed that 100% recovery could be reached by increasing the maximum temperature to 120°C. Experiment results have provided many useful information for the designing of a new structural composite actuator by using shape memory foams