Tunable reversible deformation of semicrystalline polymer networks based on temperature memory effect

Abstract The tunable and high levels of reversible or actuation strains are important for the application of reversible shape-memory polymers (RSMPs) as actuators. Here, temperature-memory polymer actuators based on semicrystalline networks exhibiting a broad melting temperature range are presented. The relationship between the programing temperature (Tprog), applied actuation temperature (Tact) and actuation strains is explored. The actuation strains increase first and then decrease with the elevated Tact, showing the maximum actuation strain when Tact is roughly the same as the Tprog. The contraction force is also found to show the maximum nearly at the Tprog. The exactly same temperature memory effect of reversible deformation and contraction force arises from the gradually activating of actuation domain below Tprog and softening of skeleton domain above Tprog, resulting highly tunable reversible deformation based on temperature memory. This work provides the design criteria for tuning the reversible strain of semicrystalline networks based on the temperature memory effect, and the custom-designed actuator shows potential applications in the field of anti-counterfeiting.