An experimental, theoretical and numerical investigation of shape memory polymers

• Experiments on semicrystalline low/high density polyethylene shape memory polymers.
• Development of 1D finite strain macro model based on the phase transition approach.
• Numerical treatment through the Fischer-Burmeister function.
• Model ability to qualitatively/quantitatively predict LDPE/HDPE SMP behavior.

The present paper deals with the experimental analysis, constitutive modeling and numerical simulation of a class of polymers, exhibiting shape memory effects. We first present and discuss the results of an experimental traction-shrinkage campaign on semi-crystalline shape memory polymers, particularly, on low-density and high-density polyethylene-based polymers. Then, we develop a new one-dimensional phenomenological constitutive model, based on the so-called phase transition approach and formulated in a finite strain framework, in order to reproduce experimental observations. The model is treated through a numerical procedure, consisting in the replacement of the classical set of Kuhn–Tucker inequality conditions by the Fischer–Burmeister complementarity function. Numerical predictions reveal that the model is able to describe qualitative aspects of material behavior, involving both orientation and thermal retraction, as well as to predict experimental orientation processes for semi-crystalline polyethylene-based polymers with different densities.