Shape memory alloy is widely used in many fields, such as aerospace, mechanical electronics, biomedicine, bridge construction, automobile industry and daily life, because of its many excellent properties.
Shape memory alloys have been used in aerospace devices. For example, the low-temperature mating connectors used in the hydraulic system of military aircraft, Europe and the United States are developing shape memory alloy materials for the intelligent horizontal rotors of helicopters. Due to the limitation of helicopter's high vibration and high noise, the noise and vibration mainly come from the interference of blade vortex and the small deviation of blade profile. This requires a device to balance the pitch of the blades so that each blade can rotate exactly in the same plane. At present, a kind of blade trajectory controller has been developed, which uses a small double tube shape memory alloy driver to control the position of the small wing on the blade edge trajectory, so as to minimize its vibration.
It can also be used to make the lunar antenna for exploring the mysteries of the universe. People use shape memory alloy to make the antenna in a high temperature environment, and then compress it into a small iron ball at a low temperature, reducing its volume to one thousandth of the original, so it is easy to transport to the moon. The strong radiation of the sun makes it restore its original shape and send back valuable cosmic information to the earth according to the demand 。
In addition, a shape memory release device that can open a container is used in the satellite to protect the sensitive germanium detector from contamination during assembly and launch.