Cyanate ester based shape memory polymers with enhanced toughness and tailored property

Abstract

Shape memory polymer with high transition temperature (Tr) is highly demanded in many fields. A cyanate ester (CE) based shape memory polymer with tunable Tr and excellent mechanical property was prepared by using CE, carboxy-terminated liquid nitrile rubber (CTBN) and epoxy resin (E51 or GE36) in this work. The rheological behavior and fourier transformation infrared spectrogram results indicate the addition of CTBN containing of carboxylate could accelerate the triazine forming and reduce the curing temperature. Adding CTBN and epoxy resin to CE resulted in the formed network with reduced triazine density that the toughness was significantly improved, the elongation at break can reach up to 40%. The Tr, mechanically property could be tuned in a larger range by adjusting the ratio between CE, CTBN and epoxy resin. The shape memory cyanate ester (SMCE) presented an excellent shape memory effect even a triple shape memory effect. This work provides a promise shape memory material for broad applications.