ABSTRACT
The demand for textiles is rapidly changing in the twenty-first century with the unprecedented growth of science and technology, resulting in more ambitious requirements from a textile product. Despite all the advantages of and enormous possibilities for shape memory polymers (SMPs), the low recovery stress and low mechanical strength limit the commercial applications of SMPs. This chapter focuses on the research and development in SMP nanocomposites, highlighting their application in textiles. SMPs belong to a special class of smart materials and possess a unique property known as the shape memory effect. Different researchers have used different characterization techniques or methods, which makes it difficult to compare or evaluate shape memory properties of a wide variety of shape memory polyurethane (SMPU). SMPU nanocomposites have been researched extensively to improve thermomechanical properties and explore new potential areas. SMP composites are excellent for obtaining multistimulus SMPUs. In solvent type, SMPs are mostly applied in the textile domain for garment finishing.
