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Science 23 November 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5854, pp. 1294 - 1296
DOI: 10.1126/science.1145593
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Reports

Shape and Temperature Memory of Nanocomposites with Broadened Glass Transition

Pierre Miaudet,1 Alain Derré,1 Maryse Maugey,1 Cécile Zakri,1 Patrick M. Piccione,2 Rabi Inoubli,2 Philippe Poulin1*

Shape-memory polymers can revert to their original shape when they are reheated. The stress generated by shape recovery is a growing function of the energy absorbed during deformation at a high temperature; thus, high energy to failure is a necessary condition for strong shape-memory materials. We report on the properties of composite nanotube fibers that exhibit this particular feature. We observed that these composites can generate a stress upon shape recovery up to two orders of magnitude greater than that generated by conventional polymers. In addition, the nanoparticles induce a broadening of the glass transition and a temperature memory with a peak of recovery stress at the temperature of their initial deformation.

1 Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal–CNRS, Université Bordeaux I, 115 Avenue Schweitzer, F-33600 Pessac, France.
2 Arkema, Groupement de Recherches de Lacq, RN 117, F-64170 Lacq, France.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: poulin{at}crpp-bordeaux.cnrs.fr

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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A. E. Aliev, J. Oh, M. E. Kozlov, A. A. Kuznetsov, S. Fang, A. F. Fonseca, R. Ovalle, M. D. Lima, M. H. Haque, Y. N. Gartstein, et al. (2009)
Science 323, 1575-1578
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)