Thermomechanical behavior of fiber reinforced shape memory polymer composite

Carbon fiber fabric reinforced shape memory polymer composite (SMPC) is studied in this paper. The shape memory polymer (SMP) is a thermoset styrene-based resin. In order to discuss the basic thermomechanical properties of SMPC, the investigation is conducted with the following methods: dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA), three-point bending test, shape recovery tests and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Results indicate that SMPC exhibits a higher glass transition temperature (T_g) and a higher storage modulus than pure SMP. SMPC shows high bending modulus before the glass transition in SMP, while exhibits low bending modulus within the range of glass transition in SMP. Moreover, shape recovery velocity and ratio rise remarkably with the increase of shape recovery temperature, while they increase in a weak trend with the increase of pre-deformation temperature. In addition, electrically conductive SMPC shows favorable recovery performances during the thermomechanical cycles. In the end, under the bending deformation, all the buckled fibers in inner surface break at the same time, which make it regular for the fracture section of buckled fiber tow. However, the cross sections of these buckled fibers are relatively rough and located in 45°C direction along fiber. By contrast, the tensile fibers in outer surface break unorderly, which make it irregular for the fracture section of tensile fiber tow. But the cross sections of these tensile fibers are relatively smooth and vertical to fiber.