Peng Kaiyuan, Zhao Yao, Shahab Shima, Mirzaeifar Reza
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Dec 30;12(52):58295-58300. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c18413. Epub 2020 Dec 18.
In recent years, shape-memory polymers (SMPs) have received extensive attention to be used as actuators in a broad range of applications such as medical and robotic devices. Their ability to recover large deformations and their capability to be stimulated remotely have made SMPs a superior choice among different smart materials in various applications. In this study, a ductile SMP composite with enhanced shape recovery ability is synthesized and characterized. This SMP composite is made by a mixture of acrylate-based crosslinkers and monomers, as well as polystyrene (PS) with UV curing. The composite can achieve almost 100% shape recovery in 2 s by hot water or hot air. This shape recovery speed is much faster than typical acrylate-based SMPs. In addition, the composite shows excellent ductility and viscoelasticity with reduced hardness. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed for understanding the curing mechanism of this composite. With the combination of the experimental and computational works, this study paves the way in front of designing and optimizing the future SMP devices.
近年来，形状记忆聚合物（SMPs）作为致动器在医学和机器人设备等广泛应用中受到了广泛关注。它们能够恢复大变形以及能够被远程刺激的能力，使SMPs在各种应用中的不同智能材料中成为一个优越的选择。在本研究中，合成并表征了一种具有增强形状恢复能力的韧性SMP复合材料。这种SMP复合材料由丙烯酸酯基交联剂和单体以及聚苯乙烯（PS）通过紫外线固化混合制成。该复合材料通过热水或热空气在2秒内可实现几乎100%的形状恢复。这种形状恢复速度比典型的丙烯酸酯基SMPs快得多。此外，该复合材料表现出优异的延展性和粘弹性，硬度降低。进行了分子动力学（MD）模拟以了解这种复合材料的固化机理。通过实验和计算工作的结合，本研究为未来SMP设备的设计和优化铺平了道路。
