Mechanical Properties of Polymer Blends Having Shape-memory Capability

The general design principle of shape-memory polymers (SMP) requires two key compo-nents: covalent or physical crosslinks (hard domains) determining the permanent shape and switching domains fixing the temporary shape as well as influencing the switching temperature Tsw. In conventional thermoplastic SMP hard and switching domains determining segments are combined in one macromolecule, e.g. block copolymers such as polyurethanes. Recently, binary polymer blends having shape-memory properties, from two different multiblock copolymers have been presented, whereby the first one is providing the segments forming hard domains and the second one the segments forming the switching domains. Besides the shape-memory proper-ties, the mechanical properties of such materials are application relevant. Here we investigate how the blend composition influences mechanical properties of this new class of shape-memory materials.