Abstract:
The need for weight and cost reduction of parts while retaining efficiency and is widely desired in
industry, especially in aviation. This thesis aims to add value to the aviation industry by combining
additive manufacturing technologies and compliant mechanism design. This approach is considered
to improve part consolidation in an airplane wing by reducing the number of moving parts and
replacing them with suitable compliant mechanisms and flexures. This thesis aims to explain the
benefits of these technologies and design by producing an airplane wing ‘slice’ and investigating the
viability of application in the real world.
Literature is reviewed to obtain a suitable additive manufacturing technology that is capable of rapid
prototyping, the material is able to be compliant, and produce flexible but durable parts. Nylon-12 SLS
(selective laser sintering) is chosen as the technology of powder bed fusion presents many benefits
such as the low cost, no support material needed and the ability to produce durable, flexible, and
highly precise parts. Further literature is reviewed to understand the design process and manufacture
of compliant mechanisms, also which types of compliant mechanisms are required for the specific
movement expected in an airplane wing.
Initial concept design and testing is done to provide a base level of material knowledge when
subjecting nylon-12 to flexible motion, this is then used to design and create various compliant
flexures. The compliant flexures are then experimented to determine which movements are valuable
to the design of the morphing wing slice. The rotary pivot was proven to be the most valuable flexure
in terms of movement range given the relatively small size of the flexures.
The results from the flexure and material testing provided the ability to design two different compliant
wing slices. These were both experimented with different configurations of actuation force and the
results were recorded and compared. The wing design that incorporated a moving rotary flexure
skeleton with rotating hinges was proven to be the most valuable with a great range of motion and
flexibility. This experiment proved the viability of compliant mechanism design and additive
manufacturing technology to produce an airplane wing slice that is able to change an aerofoil shape
mid use.
Further research and testing will be required to incorporate the actuation force inside of the wing
design that was unable to be done in this thesis due to the size of the servo motors available and the
limitations of the SLS print bed size. A suitable exterior material would need to be researched as nylon-
12 is porous and not suitable for wet conditions. The wing designs and movement configurations
would then need to be tested for their aerodynamic value and adjusted for precision.