The thermomechanical properties of a thin film of shape memory polymer of polyurethane series were investigated experimentally. Based on the experimental results, the dynamic mechanical properties, cyclic deformation properties at high temperature, thermomechanical cycling properties, creep and stress relaxation are discussed. The shape fixity with loading above the glass transition temperature followed by unloading below does not change under thermomechanical cycling. The residual strain is recovered in the vicinity of during the heating process. Several applications of the polymer are introduced.

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In order to describe the thermomechanical properties in shape memory polymer of polyurethane series, a thermomechanical constitutive model was developed by modifying a standard linear viscoelastic model. The model involved a slip element due to internal friction and took account of thermal expansion. In order to describe the variation in mechanical properties due to the glass transition, coefficients in the model were expressed by a single exponential function of temperature. Several kinds of thermomechanical tests were carried out. The proposed theory expressed well the thermomechanical properties of the material, such as shape fixity, shape recovery and recovery stress. The proposed model is useful for design of shape-memory polymer elements, in which the amount of recovery deformation, the tightening force and the working start and completion temperatures are specified.

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Nucleation and development of phase transformation fronts in TiNi shape memory alloy subjected to the stress-and strain-controlled tension tests were investigated. A thermovision camera was applied to register the distribution of infrared radiation emitted by the specimen and to find its temperature variations. During the loading, narrow bands of considerably higher temperature corresponding to the martensitic phase, starting from the central part of the specimen and developing towards the specimen grips, under both approaches, were registered. The inclined bands of heterogeneous temperature distribution were observed also during the unloading process of the SMA, while the reverse transformation accompanied by temperature decrease took place. Thermomechanical aspects of martensitic and reverse transformations for various strain rates were analyzed under both stress-and strain-controlled tests.

The thermomechanical properties of polyurethane-shape memory polymer (SMP) foams and the influence of shape-holding conditions on shape recovery were investigated experimentally. The results obtained can be summarized as follows. (1) By cooling the foam down to below the glass transition temperature Tg after compressive deformation above Tg, stress decreases and the deformed shape is fixed. By heating the shape-fixed foam up to above Tg under no load, the original shape is recovered. (2) The shape deformed above Tg is maintained for six months under no load at Tg− 60 K without depending on the maximum strain, and the original shape is recovered by heating thereafter. (3) If the deformed shape is held at high temperature, the original shape is not recovered. (4) The ratio of shape irrecovery increases in proportion to the holding strain, holding temperature and holding time.

The shape fixity and recovery in a film of shape memory polymer of polyurethane series were investigated by the thermomechanical cycling tests with loading at various temperatures. The results are summarized as follows: (1) Strain is recovered at temperatures in the vicinity of the glass transition temperature Tg for loading above Tg, but it is recovered at temperatures in the vicinity of the midpoint temperature of glass transition for loading below Tg. (2) The rate of strain fixity is 98% for loading above Tg, while it decreases with increasing cycles for loading below Tg. (3) The rate of strain recovery for loading above Tg is 98% except for the early cycles. (4) The thermomechanical properties of materials with different Tg are quite alike in spite of the difference in Tg.

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