A novel biological friendly shape memory polymer and self-healing polymer based on poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC)/microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) was prepared. MFC was firstly modified by a one-step mechanic-chemical approach involves ball milling and esterification reaction. In this way MFC could be incorporated into PPC up to 20 wt% with excellent dispersion. The formation of "MFC network" structure in the PPC matrix was verified via scanning electron microscopic and the strong interfacial interaction between PPC and MFC was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The incorporation of MFC not only significantly enhanced mechanical strength and thermal stability, but also acted as physical cross-linkers, which could improve the shape memory property of PPC at definite content (5~10 wt%). More importantly, with the assistance of shape memory effect and the reinforcement of MFC fibers, the polymer composites also showed much enhanced scratch resistance and scratch self-healing behavior. Our work provides a composite approach to tune the shape memory behaviors of polymer composites and may contribute to the application of PPC in smart materials field.
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