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© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
T. J. Gutiérrez (ed.), Reactive and Functional Polymers Volume Three,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50457-1_3
Chapter 3
Smart and Shape Memory Polymers
Zijian Gao and Guanghui Gao
Abstract Smart polymers are materials that could exhibit apparent responsive
changes to external environment stimulation, such as pH, temperature, light, electrical and magnetic fields, as well as enzymes and chemicals, etc. Shape memory
behavior, as one of the unique intelligent characteristics, could endow polymers
with recovering their shape via external stimuli. As a result, smart and shape memory polymers (SMPs) exhibit enormous potential capacity for various applications.
In this chapter, the feature of SMP was firstly presented and different mechanisms
were introduced. Several types of SMPs were then discussed, including gel, polyurethane, resin, etc. Finally, the application and future outlook were described for
SMPs.
Keywords Composite materials · Gels · Polyurethane elastomer · Resins · Shape
memory
3.1 Introduction
Materials are the basis of human life and manufacture, which could be classified
into novel functional materials and traditional materials. With the development of
technology, intelligent materials gradually emerged, which was named by Takagi
Junyi in 1989. After that, R.E. Neunham proposed the concept of smart materials.
Intelligent materials could perceive and response to external environment. The
smart materials are novel functional materials with perception, execution and
response ability. Hereafter, the biominetic function can be introduced into the smart
materials so as to complete self-test, self-decision, self-commitment and self-execution process, thus facilitating that the materials reach a higher level. Currently, the
functions of smart materials can be listed as follows:
Z. Gao · G. Gao (*)
Polymeric and Soft Materials Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, and Advanced
Institute of Materials Science, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun, P. R. China
e-mail: ghgao@ccut.edu.cn
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
T. J. Gutiérrez (ed.), Reactive and Functional Polymers Volume Three,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50457-1_3
Chapter 3
Smart and Shape Memory Polymers
Zijian Gao and Guanghui Gao
Abstract Smart polymers are materials that could exhibit apparent responsive
changes to external environment stimulation, such as pH, temperature, light, electrical and magnetic fields, as well as enzymes and chemicals, etc. Shape memory
behavior, as one of the unique intelligent characteristics, could endow polymers
with recovering their shape via external stimuli. As a result, smart and shape memory polymers (SMPs) exhibit enormous potential capacity for various applications.
In this chapter, the feature of SMP was firstly presented and different mechanisms
were introduced. Several types of SMPs were then discussed, including gel, polyurethane, resin, etc. Finally, the application and future outlook were described for
SMPs.
Keywords Composite materials · Gels · Polyurethane elastomer · Resins · Shape
memory
3.1 Introduction
Materials are the basis of human life and manufacture, which could be classified
into novel functional materials and traditional materials. With the development of
technology, intelligent materials gradually emerged, which was named by Takagi
Junyi in 1989. After that, R.E. Neunham proposed the concept of smart materials.
Intelligent materials could perceive and response to external environment. The
smart materials are novel functional materials with perception, execution and
response ability. Hereafter, the biominetic function can be introduced into the smart
materials so as to complete self-test, self-decision, self-commitment and self-execution process, thus facilitating that the materials reach a higher level. Currently, the
functions of smart materials can be listed as follows:
Z. Gao · G. Gao (*)
Polymeric and Soft Materials Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, and Advanced
Institute of Materials Science, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun, P. R. China
e-mail: ghgao@ccut.edu.cn