Facile design of heat-triggered shape memory ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer/nitrile-butadiene thermoplastic vulcanizates via zinc dimethacrylate induced interfacial compatibilization

Abstract Design of shape memory polymers (SMPs) based on thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) is considered a challenge because, in most cases, the phase interface of TPV is not powerful enough to perform the shape memory behavior. In this work, a facile and effective strategy was designed to achieve rapidly reconfigurable shape fixity and recovery for a heat-triggered shape memory polymer (HSMP), which was derived from a typical sea-island structured ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer/nitrile-butadiene rubber (EVA/NBR) TPVs via Zinc Dimethacrylate (ZDMA) induced interfacial compatibilization. The EVA phase served as the heat-control switched phase to fix the deformation status of rubber particles via the ZDMA-enhanced interface. With the incorporation of ZDMA, the average diameter of NBR particles was reduced to 3–5 μm, which markedly enlarged EVA/NBR interfacial contact surfaces. The enhanced interface improved stress delivery efficiency between EVA and NBR phases, which further improved the shape recovery (SR) and shape fixing (SF) ability of TPVs. This novel HSMP exhibited the surprising shape memory property (shape fixities ~ 95%, shape recoveries> 95%, and fast recovery speed