Flexural stiffness variations of woven carbon fiber composite/shape memory polymer hybrid layered beams

This paper studies the flexural stiffness controllability of hybrid layered beams with woven carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite and shape memory polymer layers. The temperature of the shape memory polymer layer was controlled using electrical resistive heating of the woven carbon fiber reinforced polymer layers. Flexure tests were then conducted on the layered cantilever beams, and the temperature dependence of the beam flexural stiffness was examined. A three-dimensional finite element analysis was also performed to predict the flexural response of the layered beams, and a good correlation was observed between the predicted and measured results for the flexural stiffness. In addition, the deformation states in the layered beams were determined numerically and discussed in detail.