Thermo-mechanics of Amorphous Shape-memory Polymers

The time-dependent behavior of glass transition can be exploited to achieve shape-memory behavior in amorphous polymers. Modeling the shape-memory effect in polymers requires considering the viscoelastic behavior, structural evolution in response to external stimuli, such as temperature, stress, solvent. Furthermore, the broad spectrum of stress and structural relaxation times are needed to accurately predict the rate-dependent recovery response. In this paper, we review our efforts to develop constitutive models for the glass transition behavior of amorphous polymers to predict the shape-memory behavior under a variety of thermomechanical conditions.