Experimental Investigations on Viscoelastic Properties of a Shape Memory Polymer
The shape memory polymers (SMPs) are polymeric smart materials which have the remarkable ability to recover their primary shape from a temporary one under an external stimulus. The study deals with the synthesis and the thermo-mechanical characterization of a thermally-actuated SMP, the tBA/PEGDMA, with a special focus on viscoelastic properties. The mechanical characterization is performed using three kinds of tests: quasi-static tensile tests, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and modal tests. The first one allows the identification of the Youngs modulus and the Poisson’s ratio at ambient temperature. Modal analyses are done for various temperature values, and resonance frequencies are measured. In order to validate the time-temperature equivalence on this SMP, a DMA is performed under harmonic loading for different temperatures and a master curve highlights a complementarity of the results. Finally a suitable model for the viscoelastic behavior of the SMP is identified.