Mission BION-M1: Results of RIBES/FOAM2 experiment on shape memory polymer foams and composites

FOAM2 is an experiment in microgravity conditions which was performed on 20th of April 2013 during the BION-M1 mission of the Soyuz spacecraft. The experiment was carried out by an autonomous device contained in the BIOKON container (by Kayser Italia) which was in turn assembled in a properly designed payload (called RIBES, “Reconfigurable Incubator for Biology Experiments in Space”). The main goal of the experiment was to demonstrate shape recovery of polymer foams and composites in the space environment. A simple device for the evaluation of the actuation load during recovery of a shape memory epoxy foam was used together with an instrumented chamber for the extraction of the recovery speed of a similar sample. For the first time, also a shape memory composite was tested by observing the shape recovery of a bent thin sheet. Good results were achieved in terms of shape recovery for all the samples thanks to the adopted thermal program. The effect of microgravity is negligible if compared with recovery forces but it strongly affects performances of heating devices and has to be taken into account for designing actuators or self-deployable structures in future space applications.