Abstract
In order to control the temperature of shape-memory polymer (SMP), we developed an SMP sheet with an embedded electrical heating wire. The SMP can be deformed above its glass transition temperature (T_g) and maintains a rigid shape after it is cooled below T_g. When next heated above T_g, it returns to its initial shape. In this study, we changed the production method for the SMP sheet and the shape of the embedded electrical heating wire in order to obtain a uniform thickness SMP sheet without air bubbles. We investigated the mechanical properties of the SMP sheet by the bending and tensile tests. The change in the elastic modulus between the glassy and rubbery states of the SMP sheet was 20 times from the bending test. The effects of the embedded wire on the tensile properties were small. Moreover, the SMP sheet with a heating wire can be heated within 1 second from 40℃ to 50℃ by applying a 50 V voltage to the heating wire.
