Bending behavior of shape memory polymer based laminates

Shape memory polymers (SMP) are smart materials was characterized by the recoverability of shape memory effect, but its mechanical property such as the strength is low. In this study, for industrial applications, a carbon fiber fabric reinforced shape memory polymer was developed. Four kinds of specimens with different laminations of carbon fiber fabric and shape memory polymer sheet were prepared. The bending recoverability was investigated and compared between the SMP sheet substance and the developed SMP based laminates. Both of the materials were loaded and then unloaded repeatedly above the Tg. The bending recoverability characterized by the bending angle, and the influence of weight of specimen was examined. Results show that the SMP based laminates developed have good shape recoverability, and their bending recovery ratio was larger than that of the SMP sheet at any recovery time. Furthermore, the bending recovery ratio was predicted with an analysis model and its result was compared with experiment values. The good agreement between the experiment and analysis suggests that the proposed analysis model is effective for the prediction of the bending recovery of SMP based laminates.