Open Access

ARTICLE

Body Temperature Programmable Shape Memory Thermoplastic Rubber

Taoxi Wang¹, Zhuo Liu^1,2, Fu Jian¹, Xing Shen¹, Chen Wang¹, Huwei Bian³, Tao Jiang^3,*, Wei Min Huang⁴

1 State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, China
2 Graduate School, Chinese Aeronautical Establishment, Yangzhou, 225111, China
3 Department of Orthopaedics, Changzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Changzhou, 213000, China
4 School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

* Corresponding Author: Tao Jiang. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advances in Functional Polymer Composites: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications)

Journal of Polymer Materials 2025, 42(1), 81-94. https://doi.org/10.32604/jpm.2025.061047

Received 15 November 2024; Accepted 20 February 2025; Issue published 27 March 2025

Abstract

This paper presents the development of a thermoplastic shape memory rubber that can be programmed at human body temperature for comfortable fitting applications. We hybridized commercially available thermoplastic rubber (TPR) used in the footwear industry with un-crosslinked polycaprolactone (PCL) to create two samples, namely TP6040 and TP7030. The shape memory behavior, elasticity, and thermo-mechanical response of these rubbers were systematically investigated. The experimental results demonstrated outstanding shape memory performance, with both samples achieving shape fixity ratios (R_f) and shape recovery ratios (R_r) exceeding 94%. TP6040 exhibited a fitting time of 80 s at body temperature (37°C), indicating a rapid response for shape fixing. The materials also showed good elasticity before and after programming, which is crucial for comfort fitting. These findings suggest that the developed shape memory thermoplastic rubber has potential applications in personalized comfort fitting products, offering advantages over traditional customization techniques in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

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Keywords

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