Issue 93, 2016, Issue in Progress

Poly(ε-caprolactone)-based shape memory polymers crosslinked by polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane

Abstract

A series of biodegradable SMP networks with various PCL arm lengths and well-defined star-branched molecular structures were fabricated using polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) as the core reacting with different molecular weight PCL. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to follow the reaction, and the cross-link density of the samples was evaluated by the gel content. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) results showed a similar trend: transition temperature can be tailored by varying the PCL molecular weight; melting temperature of the networks gradually increased with increasing of the PCL molecular weight. The crystallization behavior was studied by DSC and the crystallization temperatures of these networks were influenced by PCL arm lengths. Mechanical properties of the POSS–PCL networks at two different temperatures were compared: tensile strength reaching 12 MPa at room temperature while this figure reduced to around 0.1 MPa above its transition temperature. Outstanding shape memory behaviors of the samples were observed in the strain-controlled cyclic thermomechanical tensile test. The results revealed that sample POSS-N2000 (higher POSS moiety) displayed the most remarkable shape fixity (97%) and recovery ratio (99%), which was induced by lowering the cross-linking density and increasing chain mobility. Finally, the possible molecular mechanism of shape memory was illustrated schematically.

Graphical abstract: Poly(ε-caprolactone)-based shape memory polymers crosslinked by polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Aug 2016
Accepted
13 Sep 2016
First published
13 Sep 2016

RSC Adv., 2016,6, 90212-90219

Poly(ε-caprolactone)-based shape memory polymers crosslinked by polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane

P. Yang, G. Zhu, X. Shen, X. Yan and J. Nie, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 90212 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA20431G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements