Cell culture substrates of defined topography have emerged as powerful tools with which to investigate cell mechanobiology, but current technologies only allow passive control of substrate properties. Here we present a thermo-responsive cell culture system that uses shape memory polymer (SMP) substrates that are programmed to change surface topography during cell culture. Our hypothesis was tha...

In this paper, we demonstrate an assisted self-assembly fabrication method for unidirectional patterns using pre-programmed shape memory polymer (SMP) as the substrate in an organic/ inorganic bi-layer structure. By heating the hybrid structure above the SMP’s shape recovery temperature, the substrate expands because of positive coefficients of thermal expansion in one direction, while in the p...

High cycle-life is important for shape memory materials exposed to numerous cycles, and here we report shape memory polyimide that maintained both high shape fixity (Rf) and shape recovery (Rr) during the more than 1000 bending cycles tested. Its critical stress is 2.78 MPa at 250 °C, and the shape recovery process can produce stored energy of 0.218 J g(-1) at the efficiency of 31.3%. Its high ...

This paper presents an experimental investigation into the compression behavior of shape memory alloy hybrid composites (SMAHC) subjected to quasi-static loading taking into account of rotation effects of shape memory wire in basalt continuous filament (BCF) direct roving epoxy composite. Two types of specimen prepared, the BCF direct roving reinforced epoxy composite filled with shape memory w...

Stimuli-responsive materials with sophisticated yet controllable shape-changing behaviors are highly desirable for real-world device applications. Among various shape-changing materials, the elastic nature of shape memory polymers allows fixation of temporary shapes that can recover on demand, whereas polymers with exchangeable bonds can undergo permanent shape change via plasticity. We integra...

A conductive epoxy-based shape memory polymer (SMP) is demonstrated using carbon black (CB) as a dopant for the purpose of creating an SMP dry adhesive system which can internally generate the heat required for activation. The electrical and mechanical properties of the CB/SMP blends for varying dopant concentrations are characterized. A composite adhesive is created to minimize surface contact...

Composites of small magnetic-shape-memory (MSM) particles embedded in a polymer matrix have been proposed as an energy damping mechanism and as actuators. Compared to a single crystal bulk material, the production is simpler and more flexible, as both type of the polymer and geometry of the microstructure can be tuned. Compared to polycrystals, in composites the soft polymer matrix permits the ...

We report on the residual stresses in amorphous shape memory polymers reinforced with SiC particles. After 50% compression of the composite material at 25 °C, the SiC particles exhibit a compressive stress, which is almost completely released during heated recovery at 120 °C. The residual stresses in SiC hexagonal (6H) phase were estimated through the average change of the unit-cell volume. Lat...

∗1Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu-ku, Kitakyushu 808-0196, Japan E-mail: [email protected] ∗2Advanced Science Institute, RIKEN 2271-130 Anagahora, Shimoshidami, Moriyama-ku, Nagoya 463-0003, Japan ∗3Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University 3-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayam...

A photonic shape memory polymer film that shows large color response (∼155 nm) in a wide temperature range has been fabricated from a semi-interpenetrating network of a cholesteric polymer and poly(benzyl acrylate). The large color response is achieved by mechanical embossing of the photonic film above its broad glass transition temperature. The embossed film, as it recovers to its original sha...