Polymer International, 2018, vol 67, 9, pp. 1291-1301
DOI:10.1002/pi.5653
Abstract
In this work, a poly(ϵ-caprolactone)/poly(ether-b-amide) blend with weight ratio 35/65 was prepared by solution mixing and compression molding. A simple and sensible method to control the phase separation structure was introduced by adjusting the temperature and time for the process of phase separation. Samples with obviously different morphology were obtained and the microstructure was studied by phase contrast optical microscopy, SEM and DSC. The shape memory properties were measured using dynamic mechanical analysis. The results show that the shape memory performance of the blend is closely related to the phase morphology, and the blend with co-continuous structure has a better shape memory property. A model is put forward to illustrate schematically the microstructural evolution during the shape memory process. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry
