Highly compliant shape memory polymer gels for tunable damping and reversible adhesion

Materials that can dynamically change their properties to better adapt to the local environment have potential utility in robotics, aerospace, and coatings. For some of these applications, most notably robotics, it is advantageous for these responsive materials to be highly compliant in an effort to provide dynamic changes in adhesion and mechanical damping within a broad temperature operational environment. In this report, non-aqueous, highly compliant shape-memory polymer gels are developed by incorporating a low density of chemical cross-links into a physically cross-linked thermoplastic elastomer gel. Chemical cross-linkers were evaluated by varying there size and degree of functionality to determine the impact on the mechanical and adhesive properties. As a result of the chemical cross-linking, the gels exhibit modulus plateaus around room temperature and at elevated temperatures above 100 °C, where the thermoplastic elastomer gel typically melts. The materials were designed so that moduli in the plateaued regions were above and below the Dahlquist criteria of 4 × 10⁴ Pa, respectively, where materials with a modulus below this value typically exhibit an increase in adhesion. The shape memory polymer gels were also integrated into fiber-reinforced composites to determine the temperature-dependent changes in mechanical damping. It is anticipated that this work will provide insight into materials design to provide dynamic changes in adhesion and damping to improve robotic appendage manipulation and platform mobility. (paper)