Thermo‐mechanical characterization of shape‐memory polyurethane nanocomposites filled with carbon nanotubes and graphene nanosheets

The shape‐memory materials are nowadays an important subject in the scientific community due to their huge technological potential. In the present study, in order to pursue the mechanical reinforcement and improvement of the shape‐memory thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) properties, it was conducted an experimental study in which TPU nanocomposites containing carbon based nanoparticles were produced by melt mixing and injection molding. The resulting nanocomposites contained treated and non‐treated multiwalled carbon nanotubes and graphene. A morphological, thermal and mechanical characterization was performed and in all the samples tested an enhancement on the thermo‐mechanical properties could be observed whenever the pure TPU was concerned. The thermal characterization performed enables to observe that carbon like reinforcement contributes positively to a better heat transfer diffusion. Furthermore, graphene seems to be the most promising reinforcement, when assessing solely the mechanical properties of the obtained nanocomposites. Overall, carbon like reinforcement at the nanoscale on a TPU matrix seems to enhance the shape‐memory ability of the pure TPU material. Nevertheless, the latter requires further insight. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:E1216–E1223, 2018. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers