Bending shape recovery of unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced epoxy-based shape memory polymer composites

Fengfeng Li, Fabrizio Scarpa, Xin Lan, Liwu Liu, Yanju Liu*, Jinsong Leng

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

65 Citations (Scopus)
353 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The thermo-mechanical properties of unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced epoxy-based shape memory polymer (SMP) composites with fiber mass fractions of 16%, 23%, 30%, 37% are evaluated by using three-point bending tests. The SMP composites show temperature-dependent flexural modulus and strength, with one order of magnitude difference between 120 °C and 20 °C. The composites show good shape recovery capability, with measured recovery ratios of more than 93% at 120 °C and 100% after 20 min at that temperature. The recovery stresses increase nonlinearly during reheating; the maximum recovery stress is approximately proportional to the fiber mass fraction. The composites show recovery capability under external loads, with the recovery ratio being inversely proportional to the partial load level. The composites feature good shape memory properties during cyclic loading and unloading at 120 °C. Their loss factors and stiffness losses decrease significantly during the first three cycles, and then stabilize after ten cycles.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)169-179
Number of pages11
JournalComposites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
Volume116
Early online date2 Nov 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2019

Keywords

  • Isothermal mechanical property
  • Shape memory polymer composite
  • Shape recovery property
  • Three-point bending
  • Unidirectional carbon fiber

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