Supramolecular polyurethane networks containing pyridine moieties for shape memory materials

Fabricating smart materials with supramolecular switch is an attractive research topic in recent years. In this communication, shape memory polyurethane supramolecular networks are synthesized from BINA, HDI, MDI and BDO. DSC results show that amorphous soft phase and hard phase are formed through different intermolecular hydrogen bondings at the regions of pyridine units and urethane groups in the resulted BINA containing polyurethanes (BIN-PUs). Moreover, DMA results show that the BIN-PUs have higher modulus ratio (E-g/E-r>400) and much higher maximum tan delta. These results determine that the BIN-PUs exhibit excellent shape memory effect: higher shape fixity (>97%) and higher shape recovery (>91.7%). (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.