Experimental investigation on free vibration of composite beams implanted Ni-Ti shape memory alloy wires

The paper presents free vibration of shape memory alloy hybrid composite beams by experimentally. The hybrid composite beams are fabricated using glass fiber with epoxy resin matrix implanted with the Ni-Ti SMA wires with diameter 0.47mm. The rectangular cross-section of beams with sizes, thickness, 3mm, width, 20mm and length 250mm are considered in the investigation. Free vibration test has been performed for the cantilever beams to investigate the effect on the fundamental natural frequency shift by changing the current as well as increasing the number of SMA wires. The fundamental natural frequency of the beam has shifted on higher side, 12.82% for single wire and 35.48% for two wires implant under the influence of current in comparison with no current state. Further, as supplied current increases in the SMA wire the natural frequency of beam increases helps in improving the stiffness and encourages to avoid resonance state.