Study on electroactive shape memory behaviors of polyvinyl alcohol/waterborne polyurethane/short carbon fiber composites

Abstract

The properties of electroactive shape memory composites fabricated from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and waterborne polyurethane (WPU) filled with short carbon fibers (SCFs) were studied. The addition of WPU effectively enhanced the elongation property and reduced the glass transition temperature. The elongation at break of the composites doubled, with a maximum content of WPU at nearly 50%. The tensile strength of the samples increased first and then decreased, reaching the maximum when the content of WPU was 10%. At the same time, the sample with WPU content of 10% showed the best electrical properties and the speed of response to external stimuli was faster. However, with the increase of WPU, the shape fixity ratio and the shape recovery ratio of the composites slightly dropped. Further, a reciprocating deformable robot was designed without adding any other materials, which could move forward under the action of alternating electric field. The above results indicated that the composites blended with an appropriate content of WPU could offer the possibility for the potential application in the field of soft robot.

ReaxFF reactive force field model enables accurate prediction of physiochemical and mechanical properties of crystalline and amorphous shape‐memory polyurethane

“…2 Unique material properties of SMPUs lead to a wide range of engineering and biomedical applications including artificial organs, drug delivery, and soft robotics. [4][5][6] The shape-memory effect (SME) in SMPUs originates from the presence of two micro-phases inside polyurethane (PU) building blocks. Micro-phases in SMPUs are characterized as "rigid phase" and "soft phase" also known as hard and soft segments, respectively.…”