Thermoplastic Elastomers with Shape-Memory Effect

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are stimuli-responsive materials. A shape memory polymer can be deformed and “fixed” into a temporary shape, and then later recover to its original (or permanent) shape when exposed to an appropriate external stimulus. SMPs have the potential to be used in many applications. However, commercialization of thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) with shape memory effect is limited due to the difficulty in engineering the molecular structure to achieve shape memory effect. A series of new shape memory TPEs (SM-TPEs) were recently developed, these SM-TPEs show high strain recovery rate, high strain fixity rate and a broad hardness range.