Its envisaged application is an electromagnetic vibration isolator that demands a high force level, combined with low spring stiffness, which yields a low resonance frequency.
In the envisaged application, the pre-stress value assigned to the SMA bars is selected so that it is only slightly modified when strain variations occur within an operative range.
However, selecting the best solution for an envisaged application is a difficult task because the tribological performance depends on both coating and substrate properties and also on adhesion between the coating and the substrate.
As an envisaged application, the proposed system shows the feasibility of measuring the residual stresses during manufacturing process of composite materials which is not straightforward by amplitude spectrum measurements and/or considering only the axial strains.
For other types of wear a tribometer is used which assures best similarity with the envisaged application concerning type of contact, type of motion, overlap ratio, environment and other relevant parameter of the tribosystem.
In the envisaged application, an automated transport system using Automated Guided Vehicles, bottleneck resources are (1) vehicles, (2) docks for loading/unloading, (3) vehicle parking places, and (4) load storage space.
