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Methodology For Analysis Of Stress, Creep, And Fatigue Behavior Of Compliant Mechanisms, Joshua Allen Crews

Doctoral Dissertations

"A methodology is developed for analyzing stress within homogeneous and metallic-reinforced, fixed-free compliant segments and small-length flexural pivots. Boundary conditions related to the inclusion of metallic reinforcing components within a polymer compliant segment are investigated. The analysis method outlined herein relies on key outputs from the pseudo-rigid-body models (PRBMs). A method is presented for the redesign of compliant mechanisms to include metallic reinforcement to reduce stress while maintaining force-deflection behavior. Examples are provided in which a compliant segment is redesigned to include metallic reinforcement by using the stress equations developed from the PRBM. The effect of bonding between the polymer …