Development of a new shape-memory polymer in the form of microspheres

Abstract A novel shape-memory polymer having microspherical structure was prepared with Styrene (St), butyl acrylate (BA) and divinylbenzene (DVB) as the crosslinkers. The results clearly show the formation of crosslinked poly(St-DVB-BA) polymeric microspheres with high content of DVB. Through the variation of DVB content, different microspheres are formed, each having two-phase separation structure consisting of BA soft phase and St hard phase respectively. Both the St hard phase and chemical-crosslinker provided stable netpoints for thermally induced shape-memory effects. Thus, the Poly(St-DVB-BA) microspheres show the capability of shape deformation, shape fixation and shape recovery.