Effect of C12-14 Alcohols on the Thermomechanical Properties of Epoxy Shape-Memory Polymer

A critical parameter for a shape memory polymer (SMP) lies in its shape memory transition temperature. For an amorphous SMP polymer, it is highly desirable to develop methods to tailor its Tg, which corresponds to its shape memory transition temperature. Starting with an amine cured aromatic epoxy system, epoxy polymers were synthesized by introducing flexible aliphatic alcohol. The thermal and thermomechanical properties of these epoxy polymers were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). All the crosslinked epoxy polymers with Tg’s above room temperature were found to possess shape memory properties.