Carbon fiber fabric reinforced poly(lactic acid) (CFF/PLA) composites were manufactured using both vacuum‐assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) and compression molding (CM) methods. Of the two methods, the CFF/PLA‐VARTM composite shows superior carbon fiber infiltration and interfacial adhesion compared to the CFF/PLA‐CM composite. The improved infiltration enables the carbon fibers to induce a dense group of PLA crystal nuclei along their surface, resulting in the formation of a trans‐crystalline layer (TCL) structure where the PLA lamellae grow perpendicular to the fiber axis. As a result, the interfacial adhesion is improved, and the crystallinity of the PLA in the CFF/PLA‐VARTM composite is 4.1 times higher than that of pure PLA. However, the weak infiltration of fibers and matrix in CFF/PLA‐CM composite results in poor load‐bearing ability. Conversely, CFF/PLA‐VARTM composite presents better interlayer bonding and tight fiber‐matrix wrapping, promoting effective tensile load transfer to carbon fibers, which results in higher strength and modulus. The presence of TCL structures also plays a key role in improving mechanical properties. Overall, these findings demonstrate a promising method for producing high‐performance PLA composites.

Shape memory blends of polycaprolactone/thermoplastic polyurethane (PCL/TPU) were prepared by in situ ring‐opening polymerization (ROP) of ε‐caprolactone (CL) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). Fourier infrared spectrometer and 1H‐NMR were used to characterize the chemical structure of PCL/TPU copolymers. The results show that TPU has been involved in the ROP of CL, leading to the formation of copolymers with homogeneous morphologies. Besides, pure PCL and all the blends exhibit an excellent shape fixation ratio of 100%, due to their high crystallinity. When a small amount of TPU is introduced, the crystallinity of PCL decreases, and as a result, the shape recovery ratio of the copolymer is enhanced compared with pure PCL. However, with the increased loading of TPU, the content of PCL as the reversible phase decreases and the storage modulus of the PCL/TPU blend declines, so the driving force for the blends to return from the temporary shape to the initial shape becomes smaller, leading to a decrease in the shape recovery ratio. Notably, when the amount of TPU is only 5%, the shape recovery ratio of the blend could reach 83.3%, which is 26% higher than that of pure PCL, and meanwhile, the tensile strength of the blend decreases slightly. This study provides a new strategy for the design of shape‐memory materials with high shape‐memory properties.