Investigation of Thermomechanical Behaviors of Epoxy Shape Memory Polymers by Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) possess the capability of shape frozen and recovery via thermomechanical processing. Over the last decades, great work has focused on their macro-properties. In order to have a better understanding of the micro-deformation mechanisms of this class of functional materials, the thermomechanical behaviors of three types of epoxy SMPs with varied curing agent contents were simulated by the molecular dynamics (MD) method. Special attention was paid on the different responses of the materials in the rubbery and glassy states. Moreover, structure-property analyses were presented.