Lateral sol–gel cross-linking of polyurethane using the a grafted triethoxysilyl group

3-Triethoxysilylpropyl isocyanate was used to graft a triethoxysilyl group to polyurethane (PU), and the grafted triethoxysilyl groups were used to cross-link PU chains through a sol–gel process. The soft segment melting temperature and enthalpy change were not significantly altered by the sol–gel cross-linking. The sol–gel cross-linked PUs exhibited significantly increased tensile strength and better tensile strain compared to the plain linear PU: the maximum stress and strain increased to 41 MPa and 1,972 %, respectively. Control series containing tetraethyl orthosilicate, a series without cross-linking, was also prepared for comparison with the sol–gel cross-linked PU series. The control series did not exhibit the increased tensile strength shown by the sol–gel cross-linked PU series. The cyclic shape memory tests demonstrated that the shape recovery was as high as 97 %, and both shape recovery and shape retention remained high after the four repeated tests. The sol–gel cross-linked PU series exhibited enhanced low-temperature flexibility compared to the plain linear PU due to the flexible silyl cross-linking group.