Nano-mechanical properties and structural of a 3D-printed biodegradable biomimetic micro air vehicle wing

• Published in: IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering 2017-06, Vol.210 (1), p.12073
• Main Authors: Salami, E, Montazer, E, Ward, T A, Ganesan, P B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biodegradability; Biomimetics; Elastic properties; Flapping wings; Flight mechanics; Frame structures; Mechanical properties; Mechanical tests; Micro air vehicles (MAV); Modulus of elasticity; Nanohardness; Reverse engineering; Three dimensional models; Three dimensional printing; Unmanned aerial vehicles; Unmanned aircraft; Wings (aircraft)
• ISSN: 1757-8981; 1757-899X
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/210/1/012073

The biomimetic micro air vehicles (BMAV) are unmanned, micro-scaled aircraft that are bio-inspired from flying organisms to achieve the lift and thrust by flapping their wings. The main objectives of this study are to design a BMAV wing (inspired from the dragonfly) and analyse its nano-mechanical properties. In order to gain insights into the flight mechanics of dragonfly, reverse engineering methods were used to establish three-dimensional geometrical models of the dragonfly wings, so we can make a comparative analysis. Then mechanical test of the real dragonfly wings was performed to provide experimental parameter values for mechanical models in terms of nano-hardness and elastic modulus. The mechanical properties of wings were measured by nanoindentre. Finally, a simplified model was designed and the dragonfly-like wing frame structure was bio-mimicked and fabricated using a 3D printer. Then mechanical test of the BMAV wings was performed to analyse and compare the wings under a variety of simplified load regimes that are concentrated force, uniform line-load and a torque. This work opened up the possibility towards developing an engineering basis for the biomimetic design of BMAV wings.