Shape memory polymer actuated hollow snap-fit design analysis

With the increasing environmental requirements for recycling technologies at the end of product lifecycle, active disassembly is becoming more and more important especially for electric and electronic product recycling. Active disassembly using smart material (ADSM) has been studied in the past decade. However, ADSM have not been widely applied due to the cost, material properties, and limited supply. Shape memory polymer (SMP) actuated hollow snap-fit may become one of the possible alternatives in ADSM, which will reduce the usage of smart materials and increase the mechanical properties of snap-fit. This research is aimed to fully investigate the SMP-actuated hollow snap-fit design and propose some guidelines for its future implementation. The correlation between design parameters and two major design objectives, maximum deflection and mating force, were analyzed using FEA software. Furthermore, an approach to search the optimal design values for given design requirements was presented. In order to maximize the recovery force generated by SMP in active disassembly process, an investigation of magnifying the deformation stress by engineering actuator’s shape design was completed. The methods and conclusion presented in this paper could be used as reference for hollow snap-fit development and application.