Shape memory effect on the formation of oxazoline and triazine rings of BCC/DGEBA copolymer

Abstract

The shape memory polymer was developed by the copolymerization of varying weight percentages (30, 40 and 50 wt%) of 1,3-bis(4-cyanatophenyl) cyclohexane cyanate ester (BCC) and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A through the formation of oxazoline and triazine ring without using any external flexibilizer/plasticizer. The copolymer samples were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, TGA, UV-vis and XPS analysis. Thermo-mechanical and rheological characterizations were carried out using dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA). The changes of shape memory behavior and storage modulus were tuned by changing the concentration of oxazoline and triazine ring in the resulting copolymer using varying weight percentages of BCC. The shape fixity behavior increases with increase in weight percentages of BCC up to 50 wt% and beyond this weight percentage of BCC the brittleness behavior of the polymer was noticed.