Díaz Lantada Andrés
Product Development Lab, Mechanical Engineering Department, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, C/Jose Gutierrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
Polymers (Basel). 2017 Oct 10;9(10):496. doi: 10.3390/polym9100496.
Shape-memory polymers are outstanding "smart" materials, which can perform important geometrical changes, when activated by several types of external stimuli, and which can be applied to several emerging engineering fields, from aerospace applications, to the development of biomedical devices. The fact that several shape-memory polymers can be structured in an additive way is an especially noteworthy advantage, as the development of advanced actuators with complex geometries for improved performance can be achieved, if adequate design and manufacturing considerations are taken into consideration. Present study presents a review of challenges and good practices, leading to a straightforward methodology (or integration of strategies), for the development of "smart" actuators based on shape-memory polymers. The combination of computer-aided design, computer-aided engineering and additive manufacturing technologies is analyzed and applied to the complete development of interesting shape-memory polymer-based actuators. Aspects such as geometrical design and optimization, development of the activation system, selection of the adequate materials and related manufacturing technologies, training of the shape-memory effect, final integration and testing are considered, as key processes of the methodology. Current trends, including the use of low-cost 3D and 4D printing, and main challenges, including process eco-efficiency and biocompatibility, are also discussed and their impact on the proposed methodology is considered.
形状记忆聚合物是出色的“智能”材料，当受到几种外部刺激激活时，它们能够发生重要的几何形状变化，并且可应用于从航空航天应用到生物医学设备开发等多个新兴工程领域。几种形状记忆聚合物能够以增材方式进行构建，这一事实是一个特别值得注意的优势，因为如果考虑到适当的设计和制造因素，就能够实现具有复杂几何形状以提高性能的先进致动器的开发。本研究综述了一些挑战和良好做法，从而形成一种直接的方法（或策略整合），用于开发基于形状记忆聚合物的“智能”致动器。分析了计算机辅助设计、计算机辅助工程和增材制造技术的结合，并将其应用于开发有趣的基于形状记忆聚合物的致动器的全过程。诸如几何设计与优化、激活系统开发、合适材料及相关制造技术的选择、形状记忆效应的训练、最终集成与测试等方面，被视为该方法的关键流程。还讨论了当前的趋势，包括使用低成本的3D和4D打印，以及主要挑战，包括工艺生态效率和生物相容性，并考虑了它们对所提出方法的影响。
