Reversible shape memory polymers exhibiting ambient actuation triggering

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10040909-B2
Application number	US-201314441677-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 2, 2013
Priority date	Nov 2, 2012
Publication date	Aug 7, 2018
Grant date	Aug 7, 2018

Abstract

Shape memory polymers featuring reversible actuation capability under ambient stimulus for integration with apparel. One approach is to use a multiblock polymer consisting of two (or potentially more) blocks in which the one block is the crystalline switching block with relatively low melting transitions, the other block has a higher thermal transition, and the two blocks are linked together by a linker molecule. Another approach is to use a graft copolymer having high and low melting transitions where the graft copolymer has a first polymer serving as the backbone and a second polymer being grafted to or from the backbone at certain graft locations. A further approach is to use latent crosslinking of a semicrystalline polymer with reactive groups placed on the backbone.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A shape memory polymer, comprising:
a plurality of backbones, wherein each backbone is formed from a switching block consisting of a first monoblock polymer having a first melting transition temperature that is above room temperature and below 50 degrees Celsius;
a transition block consisting of a second polymer having a second melting transition temperature that is at least 10 degrees Celsius higher than the first melting temperature that is grafted to each of said backbones at a plurality of graft locations along said backbones, wherein each of said plurality of backbones are crosslinked to adjacent of said backbones so that said polymer exhibits two-way shape memory.

2. The polymer of claim 1 , wherein said switching block is a single polymer selected from the group consisting of poly(ϑ-caprolactone), poly(ethylene oxide), poly(cyclooctene), poly(1,5-cyclooctadiene), poly(cyclooctene-co-cycloctadiene) (random copolymer), poly(trans-butadiene), poly(glycolide), poly(dioxanone), poly(hydroxy butyrate), nylon-6, nylon-4,6, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,10, nylon-11, nylon-12, poly(butene-1), poly(stearyl acrylate), poly(diethyl siloxane), poly(1,3-dioxolane), poly(ethylene imine), poly(hexene-1), poly(trans-1,4-isoprene), poly(4-methyl pentene-1), stereoblock poly(propylene), poly(tetrahydrofuran), poly(trimethylene oxide), and poly(vinyl methyl ether).

3. The polymer of claim 1 , wherein said transition block is grafted to said backbone by a linker.

4. The polymer of claim 3 , wherein said linker comprises a direct bond between the switching block and the transition block.

5. The polymer of claim 3 , wherein said linker comprises a multi-atom linkage selecting from the group consisting of an ether, an ester, a sulfide, a carbonate, a urethane, a urea, and an amide.

6. The polymer of claim 3 , wherein the molecular weight average of the switching block is between 2000 g/mol and 100,000 g/mol.

7. The polymer of claim 3 , wherein the molecular weight average of the transition block is between 2000 g/mol and 100,000 g/mol.

8. The polymer of claim 3 , wherein the molecular weight average of the switching block and the molecular weight average of the transition block are each between 3500 g/mol and 30,000 g/mol.

9. The polymer of claim 3 , wherein the second melting transition temperature is greater than the first melting transition temperature by at least 10 degrees Celsius.

10. The polymer of claim 3 , wherein the second melting transition temperature is greater than the first melting transition temperature by about 50 degrees Celsius.

11. The polymer of claim 3 , wherein said switching block is selected from the group consisting of poly(ϑ-caprolactone), poly(ethylene oxide), poly(cyclooctene), poly(1,5-cyclooctadiene), poly(cyclooctene-co-cycloctadiene) (random copolymer), poly(trans-butadiene), poly(glycolide), poly(dioxanone), poly(hydroxy butyrate), nylon-6, nylon-4,6, nylon-6,6, nylon-6,10, nylon-11, nylon-12, poly(butene-1), poly(stearyl acrylate), poly(diethyl siloxane), poly(1,3-dioxolane), poly(ethylene imine), poly(hexene-1), poly(trans-1,4-isoprene), poly(4-methyl pentene-1), stereoblock poly(propylene), poly(tetrahydrofuran), poly(trimethylene oxide), and poly(vinyl methyl ether), and the transition block is selected from the group consisting of poly(styrene), poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(phenylene oxide), poly(carbonate), poly(alkyl methacrylate), poly(alkyl acrylate), polysulfone, poly(acrylonitrile), poly(ether sulfone), polyhedral oligosilsequioxane (POSS) polymers, poly(vinyl acetate), poly(vinyl alcohol), poly(vinyl butyral), poly(vinyl chloride), and poly(N-vinyl carbazole).

Assignees

• Mather Patrick T
• Univ Syracuse

Inventors

• Mather Patrick T

Classifications

• C08L53/00 Primary

  Compositions of block copolymers containing at least one sequence of a polymer obtained by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds; Compositions of derivatives of such polymers · CPC title

• C08G81/027

  containing polyester or polycarbonate sequences · CPC title

• C08G81/00 Primary

  Macromolecular compounds obtained by interreacting polymers in the absence of monomers, e.g. block polymers (involving only carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bond reactions C08F299/00 {; polyester-amides C08G69/44; polyester-imides C08G73/16; polyamides-imides C08G73/14; block- or graft polymers containing polysiloxane sequences C08G77/42}) · CPC title

• C08G81/021

  Block or graft polymers containing only sequences of polymers of C08C or C08F · CPC title

• C08L2201/12

  Shape memory · CPC title