Preparation and shape memory properties of TiO_2/PLCL biodegradable polymer nanocomposites

The preparation of TiO2/poly（L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone）（PLCL） nanocomposites and their properties were reported.TiO2nanoparticles were surface modified by ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone（ε-CL）.The resulting poly（ε-caprolactone）-grafted TiO2（g-TiO2） was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FTIR）,thermogravimetric analysis（TGA） and transmission electron microscopy（TEM）.The g-TiO2can be uniformly dispersed in chloroform and the g-TiO2/PLCL nanocomposites were successfully fabricated through solvent-casting method.The effects of the content of g-TiO2nanoparticles on tensile properties and shape memory properties were investigated.A significant improvement in the tensile properties of the 5% g-TiO2/PLCL mass fraction nanocomposite is obtained：an increase of 113% in the tensile strength and an increase of 11% in the elongation at break over pure PLCL polymer.The g-TiO2/PLCL nanocomposites with a certain amount of g-TiO2content have better shape memory properties than pure PLCL polymer.The g-TiO2nanoparticles play an additional physical crosslinks which are contributed to improvement of the shape memory properties.

Kinetic grain growth, shape memory and corrosion behavior of two Cu-based shape memory alloys after thermomechanical treatment

Metallurgical and mechanical properties along with shape memory and corrosion behavior of Cu-11.8% AI-3.7% Ni-1 %Mn and Cu-11% A1 5.6% Mn shape memory alloys （SMAs） were comparatively studied. The influence of grain refinement on the properties was studied by optical microscopy （OM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, differential scanning calorimetry （DSC）, potentiodynamic polarizations and bend and tensile tests. Static recrystallization and kinetic grain growth show a rapid recrystallization in the first 15 s of annealing at 800℃ followed by grain growths. The minimum grain sizes obtained after 15 s are 90 and 260 μm for Cu-A1-Ni-Mn and Cu-A1-Mn, respectively. Tensile tests show typical three-stage curves for both alloys, and it is seen that alloys exhibit high fracture stress and strain after grain refinement. Microstructural observations show zig-zag morphology of β 1martensite in the Cu-A1-Ni-Mn and coexistence of β1 and y1 in the Cu-A1-Mn, which were confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry results. The shape memory ratios （17） of the alloys before thermomechanieal treatment, and after thermomechanical annealing at 800 ℃ for different time up to 15 min followed by water quenching, were evaluated. In addition, corrosion behavior of alloys after grain refinement was analyzed by means of potentiodynamic polarization measurements. The results showed that the anodic reactions were dominated by dissolution of copper, and Cu-AI-Ni-Mn alloy exhibits a better corrosion resistance than Cu-A1-Mn alloy.

Simultaneous enhancement of mechanical and shape memory properties by heat-treatment homogenization of Ti_(2)Ni precipitates in TiNi shape memory alloy fabricated by selective laser melting

The excellent shape memory and mechanical properties of Ti Ni shape memory alloys(SMAs) fabricated using selective laser melting(SLM) are highly desirable for a wide range of critical applications. In this study, we examined the simultaneous enhancement of mechanical and shape memory properties using heat-treatment homogenization of Ti_(2)Ni precipitates in a Ti_(50.6)Ni_(49.4)SMA fabricated using SLM. Specifically, because of the complete solution treatment, nanoscale spherical Ti_(2)Ni precipitates were homogeneously dispersed throughout the grain interior. Interestingly, the resultant SMA exhibited an ultrahigh tensile strength of 880 ± 13 MPa, a large elongation of 22.4 ± 0.4%, and an excellent shape memory effect, with a recovery rate of > 98% and ultrahigh recoverable strain of 5.32% after ten loading–unloading cycles. These simultaneously enhanced properties are considerably superior than those of most previously reported Ti Ni SMAs fabricated using additive manufacturing. Fundamentally, the enhancement in tensile strength is ascribed to precipitation strengthening and work hardening, and the large plasticity is mainly attributed to the homogeneous nanoscale globular Ti_(2)Ni precipitates, which effectively impeded the rapid propagation of microcracks. Furthermore, the enhanced shape memory properties are derived from the suppression of dislocation movement and formation of retained stabilized martensite by the presence of high-density dislocations, nanoscale Ti_(2)Ni precipitates, and abundant interfaces. The obtained results provide insight into the enhancement of the two types of properties in Ti Ni SMAs and will accelerate the wider application of SMAs.

Enhanced mechanical properties of linear segmented shape memory poly（urethane-urea） by incorporating flexible PEG400 and rigid piperazine

The goal of this study is to design and synthesize a linear segmented shape memory poly（urethane-urea） （SMPUU） that possesses near-body-temperature shape memory temperature （Ttran） and enhanced mechanical properties by incorporating flexible poly（ethylene glycol） 400 （PEG400） to form poly（D,L-lactic acid）-based macro- diols （PDLLA-PEG400-PDLLA） and then rigid piperazine （PPZ） as a chain extender to form the desired SMPUUs （PEG400-PUU-PPZ）. PEG400 increased Mn while maintaining a lower Tg of PDLLA-PEG400-PDLLA, which together with PPZ improved the mechanical properties of PEG400-PUU-PPZ. The obtained optimum SMPUU with enhanced mechanical properties （O＇y = 24.28 MPa; zf = 698%; Uf = 181.5 MJIm3） and a Tg of 40.62~C exhibited sound shape memory properties as well, suggesting a promising SMPUU for in vivo biomedical applications.

Block Copolymer Networks Composed of Poly(ε-caprolactone) and Polyethylene with Triple Shape Memory Properties

In this contribution, we reported a novel synthesis of block copolymer networks composed of poly(ε-caprolactone)(PCL) and polyethylene(PE) via the co-hydrolysis and condensation of α,ω-ditriethoxylsilane-terminated PCL and PE telechelics. First, α,ω-dihydroxylterminated PCL and PE telechelics were synthesized via the ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone and the ring-opening metathesis polymerization of cyclooctene followed by hydrogenation of polycyclooctene. Both α,ω-ditriethoxylsilane-terminated PCL and PE telechelics were obtained via in situ reaction of α,ω-dihydroxyl-terminated PCL and PE telechelics with 3-isocyanatopropyltriethoxysilane. The formation of networks was evidenced by the solubility and rheological tests. It was found that the block copolymer networks were microphase-separated. The PCL and PE blocks still preserved the crystallinity. Owing to the formation of crosslinked networks, the materials displayed shape memory properties. More importantly, the combination of PCL with PE resulted that the block copolymer networks had the triple shape memory properties, which can be triggered with the melting and crystallization of PCL and PE blocks. The results reported in this work demonstrated that triple shape memory polymers could be prepared via the formation of block copolymer networks.

Effect of Powder Particle Shape on the Properties of In Situ Ti–TiB Composite Materials Produced by Selective Laser Melting

This work studied the preparation of starting powder mixture influenced by milling time and its effect on the particle morphology （especially the shape） and, consequently, density and compression properties of in situ Ti-TiB composite materials produced by selective laser melting （SLM） technology. Starting powder composite system was prepared by mixing 95 wt% commercially pure titanium （CP-Ti） and 5 wt% titanium diboride （TiB2） powders and subsequently milled for two different times （i.e. 2 h and 4 h）. The milled powder mixtures after 2 h and 4 h show nearly spherical and irregular shape, respectively. Subsequently, the resultant Ti-5 wt% TiB2 powder mixtures were used for SLM processing. Scanning electron microscopy image of the SLM-processed Ti-TiB composite samples show needle-shape TiB phase distributed across the Ti matrix, which is the product of an in-situ chemical reaction between Ti and TiB2 during SLM. The Ti-TiB composite samples prepared from 2 h and 4 h milled Ti-TiB2 powders show different relative densities of 99.5% and 95.1%, respectively. Also, the compression properties such as ultimate strength and compression strain for the 99.5% dense composite samples is 1421 MPa and 17.8%, respectively, which are superior to those （883 MPa and 5.5%, respectively） for the 95.1% dense sample. The results indicate that once Ti and TiB2 powders are connected firmly to each other and powder mixture of nearly spherical shape is obtained, there is no additional benefit in increasing the milling time and, instead, it has a negative effect on the density （i.e. increasing porosity level） of the Ti-TiB composite materials and their mechanical properties.

Total Positivity of UE Spline Basis

A new geometric method to prove the total positivity of UE spline basis was proposed. UE spline basis is a kind of basis defined over algebraic-trigonometric unified space. UE spline basis shares most properties of the usual polynomial B-Splines. Total positivity is an important property for spline basis, it is highly related with shape preserving and variation diminishing properties. Knot inserted algorithm is the most useful algorithm for spline curves since many other useful properties are based on it. It is necessary to prove the total positivity of UE spline basis using knot inserted algorithm intuitively, not only enrich the UE spline basis theory, but also can be treated as supplement to the total positivity in algebraic sense. This approach also can be extended to other analogical bases.

BEST LIPSCHITZ CONSTANTS FOR THE BEZIER NETS AND BERNSTEIN POLYNOMIALS OVER A SIMPLEX

The present paper finds out that the geometric entity which characterizes the best Lipschitz constants for the Bezier nets and Bernstein polynomials over a simplex sigma is an angle Phi determined by sigma, and proves that (1) if f(x) is Lipschitz continuous over sigma, i.e., f(x) is an element of Lip(A)(alpha,sigma), then both the n-th Bezier net <(f)over cap (n)> and the n-th Bernstein polynomial B-n(f;x) corresponding to f(x) belong to Lip(B)(alpha,sigma) , where B = Asec(alpha)Phi; and (2) if n-th Bezier net <(f)over cap (n)> is an element of Lip(A)(alpha,sigma), then the elevation Bezier net <E(f)over cap (n)> and the corresponding Bernstein polynomial. B-n(f,;x) also belong to Lip(A)(alpha,sigma). Furthermore, the constant B = Asec(alpha)Phi, in case (1) is best in some sense.