Conductive Shape Memory Polymer Composite Technology and Its Applications in Aerospace

The growing application of shape memory polymer (SMP) materials for aerospace has highlighted the need for an advanced electro actuation of the material’s inductive approach. This paper presents conductive SMP incorporating carbon black (CB) and short carbon fiber (SCF). It was found that the particulate additives wer e dispersed homogeneously within matrix and serve d as interconnections between the fibers, while the fibrous additives act ed as long distance charge transporter by forming local conductive paths from the scanning electro microscopy (SEM) . The glass transit ion temperature ( Tg ) of composites is lower than that of pure SMP , and the effect of CB and SCF on the Tg are obvious. For the 5 wt% CB and 2 wt% SCF nanocomposite, the storage modulus is 2.31 GPa at the temperature of 273 K which increases by 12.7 % compar ed to that of the pure SMP , and the Tg is 62.2 o C from d ynamic mechanical a nalyzer (DMA) test . The electrical conductivity of the corresponding composite achieves 1.13×10 -1 S·cm -1 by DC supply measurement and 3 S·cm -1 by four -point probe Van De Pauw me thod. Then it can be induced by passing an electrical current with a constant voltage of 25 V, when the power is 9 W. So the electro activate SMP is realized, it is so convenient that SMP will have fully reached its technological potential.