Enhancement in Mechanical and Shape Memory Properties for Liquid Crystalline Polyurethane Strengthened by Graphene Oxide

Yueting Li; Huiqin Lian; Yanou Hu; Wei Chang; Xiuguo Cui; Yang Liu

doi:10.3390/polym8070236

Enhancement in Mechanical and Shape Memory Properties for Liquid Crystalline Polyurethane Strengthened by Graphene Oxide

Polymers (Basel). 2016 Jul 19;8(7):236. doi: 10.3390/polym8070236.

Authors

Yueting Li^{1

2}, Huiqin Lian³, Yanou Hu⁴, Wei Chang^{5

6}, Xiuguo Cui⁷, Yang Liu⁸

Affiliations

¹ Beijing Key Lab of Special Elastomer Composite Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China. liyueting@bipt.edu.cn.
² College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China. liyueting@bipt.edu.cn.
³ Beijing Key Lab of Special Elastomer Composite Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China. lianhuiqin@bipt.edu.cn.
⁴ Beijing Key Lab of Special Elastomer Composite Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China. huyanou@bipt.edu.cn.
⁵ Beijing Key Lab of Special Elastomer Composite Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China. changwei@bipt.edu.cn.
⁶ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China. changwei@bipt.edu.cn.
⁷ Beijing Key Lab of Special Elastomer Composite Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China. cuixiuguo@bipt.edu.cn.
⁸ Beijing Key Lab of Special Elastomer Composite Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China. liuyang@bipt.edu.cn.

Abstract

Conventional shape memory polymers suffer the drawbacks of low thermal stability, low strength, and low shape recovery speed. In this study, main-chain liquid crystalline polyurethane (LCPU) that contains polar groups was synthesized. Graphene oxide (GO)/LCPU composite was fabricated using the solution casting method. The tensile strength of GO/LCPU was 1.78 times that of neat LCPU. In addition, shape recovery speed was extensively improved. The average recovery rate of sample with 20 wt % GO loading was 9.2°/s, much faster than that of LCPU of 2.6°/s. The enhancement in mechanical property and shape memory behavior could be attributed to the structure of LCPU and GO, which enhanced the interfacial interactions between GO and LCPU.

Keywords: composites; graphene oxide; liquid crystalline polyurethane; shape memory property.