Shape Memory Effect in a Composite Layered Shell of Complex Shape

Experimental studies have been carried out on the deployment of a space satellite antenna frame element made of a composite with thermally activated shape memory from a deformed transport state to the initial working state. The element is a carbon-fiber shell of an open profile of double curvature, which, in order to obtain a transport state, is bent around a cylindrical guide surface perpendicular to one of the radii of the initial curvature. It was found that a shell with double curvature has an intermediate equilibrium state between the transport and working states. To exit this state, additional heating is required. Thus, there is a temperature range in which the shape memory effect of the material occurs, but unfolding of the structure does not. Exit from this state occurs abruptly, which can create unwanted oscillations of the antenna reflector.