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Ice accumulation on aircraft wings during flight is a dangerous situation. To deal with this problem, current deicing systems either prevent ice accumulation by heating or break the ice layer once it is formed by dynamic motion of a leading edge device such as a boot. These systems may be deficient due to excessive energy requirements or ineffectiveness. In this project, the feasibility of using shape memory alloy (SMA) composite material for deicing purposes is investigated. SMA such as Nitinol wire has an unusual characteristic where it can be trained to generate a compressive strain upon application of an electric current through the wire. Several different versions of two inch radius semi-circular SMA composite specimen were manufactured and tested at Wichita State University. Ice was successfully shed in static icing tests while each of the subsequent versions reduced the power input requirement.

The residual strength of an aluminum panel with a centric hole and one cracked ligament was investigated experimentally. Each of the 7075-T6 aluminum panels which were tested included a cracked ligament of varying length on one side of the centric hole and an uncracked ligament on the other side of the hole. The failure of such a panel subjected to uniform tensile loading normally occurs according to the lower of two modes: brittle fracture or a net section type of yielding. On the other hand, the question of whether one or both ligaments fail is not easily answered. Results show that one or two ligament failure depends upon test conditions such as crack length and loading method. For short crack lengths, the uncracked ligament will fail almost simultaneously with the failure of the cracked ligament.