Research on the Connection Performance of SMA Pipe Coupling for Sports Equipment

Based on the constitutive relation of shape memory alloy (SMA) proposed by Auricchio and Taylor, a numerical simulation study was carried out on the connection performance and the functional failure mechanism of SMA pipe coupling, and the effect of interference magnitude, the wall thickness of SMA connector on the stress distribution and tensile strength was investigated. The simulation result shows that with the increase of interference magnitude, the Mises stress of the SMA pipe coupling increases accordingly, as well as the ultimate pullout load increases. With the increase of the wall thickness of SMA connector, the Mises stress of the SMA connector decreases, whereas the Mises stress of connected steel pipe increases. Furthermore, it is suggested that the gradual internal chamfer should be machined at both ends of SMA connector to alleviate the stress concentration. To improve the connection performance and the tensile strength of SMA pipe coupling, it should take into consideration concurrently to the increase of the wall thickness and the length of the SMA connector to avoid the yield failure of steel pipe.