Abstract
Abstract In this study, we investigated the shape memory properties of natural rubber and paraffin wax (NR/PW) blends and composites (8:2, 6:4 and 4:6) vulcanized with sulfur/accelerators. Different loadings of paraffin wax in the natural rubber matrix were prepared to evaluate the one-way and two-way shape memory performance in the blends using the melting temperature of wax as the switching temperature. With the addition of multi-walled carbon nanotube (CNT), the prepared NR/PW-CNT nanocomposites not only have the improved wax dispersion but also could be remotely heated by near-infrared laser irradiation to trigger the shape memory process in a short time. The simple crosslinked NR with or without crystallizing wax also demonstrated high actuation and recovery magnitudes in the two-way shape memory behavior. Most surprisingly, to the best of our knowledge, the NR/PW blends and nanocomposites showed the first published solvent vapor-triggered reversible shape memory system without any external stress and pre-soaking treatment in the open literature. This approach paves the way for numerous possibilities to prepare multi-triggered systems with reversible shape memory properties.
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