Shape Memory Polymer Nanocomposites With Carbon Nanofiber Paper

Many substantial works have been done on the shape recovery of shape memory polymer blended with conductive filler triggered by electrical resistive heating. However, there is no effective method to protect shape memory behavior as electrical properties have been significantly improved. In this study, carbon nanofiber array is introduced to the shape memory polymer, of which shape recovery can be carried out by electrical resistive heating. And the recoverability approximates to 100%. As expected, excellent electrical property of nanocomposite benefiting from carbon nanofiber array has been evidenced by the scanning electro microscopy (SEM) observation. The electrical volume resistivity of nanocomposite incorporated with different volume fractions of carbon nanofiber array is measured by four-point probe method. Subsequently, shape recovery driven by resistive heating has been recorded by the video. Furthermore, the thermomechanical properties of nanocomposites with respect to various volume fractions of carbon nanofiber array are studied and analyzed