ABSTRACT
A shape memory polymer (SMP) is a smart material that can memorize its original shape after being deformed into a temporary shape when it is heated or receives any other external stimuli such as light, electric †eld, magnetic †eld, chemical, moisture, and pH change [1-6]. Compared with shape memory alloys (SMAs), the SMP has many advantages of low cost, low density, substantially high elastic deformation, and facile tuning of switching temperature at which shape recovery occurs and elastic recovery stress can be tailored by the variation of structural parameters of the molecular architecture along with a good processibility. Moreover, the SMP can possess biofunctionality and biodegradability. These features make the SMP have diverse applications including smart textiles [7-9], self-deployable sun sails in spacecraft [10], biomedical devices [11,12], or implants for minimally invasive surgery [13,14].
