Shape-memory polymeric materials containing alternating layers of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and co-continuous poly(butylene succinate) (PBS)/polycaprolactone (PCL) blends (denoted SLBs) were fabricated through layer-multiplying coextrusion. Because there were two well-separated phase transitions caused by the melt of PCL and PBS, both the dual- and triple-shape-memory effects were discussed. Compared with the blending specimen with the same components, the TPU/SLB multilayer system with a multicontinuous structure and a plenty of layer interfaces was demonstrated to have higher shape fixity and recovery ability. When the number of layers reached 128, both the shape fixity and recovery ratios were beyond 95 and 85% in dual- and triple-shape-memory processes, respectively, which were difficult to be achieved through conventional melt-processing methods. On the basis of the classic viscoelastic theory, the parallel-assembled TPU and SLB layers capable of maintaining the same strain along the deforming direction were regarded to possess the maximum ability to fix temporary shapes and trigger them to recover back to original ones through the interfacial shearing effect. Accordingly, the present approach provided an efficient strategy for fabricating outstanding multiple-shape-memory polymers, which may exhibit a promising application in the fields of biomedical devices, sensors and actuators, and so forth.
Keywords: co-continuous; coextrusion; interface; multilayer structure; multiple-shape-memory.