Interfacial Confinement in Semi-Crystalline Shape Memory Polymer Towards Sequentially Dynamic Relaxations

Sequential glass and melting transitions in semi-crystalline shape memory polymers (SMPs) provide great opportunities to design and generate multiple shape-memory effects (SMEs) for practical applications. However, the complexly dynamic confinements of coexisting amorphous and crystalline phases within the semi-crystalline SMPs are yet fully understood. In this study, an interfacial confinement model is formulated to describe dynamic relaxation and shape memory behavior in the semi-crystalline SMPs undergoing sequential phase/state transitions. A confinement entropy model is first established to describe the glass transition behavior of amorphous phase within the SMPs based on the free volume theory, where the free volume is critically confined by the crystalline phase. An extended Avrami model is then formulated using the frozen volume theory to characterize the melting and crystallization transitions of the crystalline phase in the SMPs, whose interfacial confinement with the amorphous phase has been identified as the driving force for the supercooled regime. Furthermore, an extended Maxwell model is formulated to describe the effect of dynamic confinement of two phases on the multiple SMEs and shape recovery behaviors in the semi-crystalline SMPs. Finally, the effectiveness of the newly proposed model is verified using the experimental data reported in the literature. This study aims to provide a new methodology for the dynamic confinements and cooperative principles in the semi-crystalline SMP towards multiple SMEs.