Effects of chitosan fiber addition on the properties of polyurethane with thermo-responsive shape memory.
We investigated the effects of the addition of chitosan fiber (biomass nanofiber made by Sugino (BiNFi-s)) to polyether-based thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) on material properties. BiNFi-s (2 and 5 wt %)/TPU composite materials were prepared via compression molding, and glass fiber (2 and 5 wt %)/TPU composite materials and plain TPU were also prepared for comparison. The glass transition temperature was analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry, and the crystal structure was investigated using X-ray diffraction. 20-mm-long test specimens with cross-sectional dimensions of 1 mm × 1 mm were cut from sheets of the composite materials, and three-point bending tests were carried out using a universal testing machine to investigate their mechanical properties and shape memory. The addition of BiNFi-s or glass fiber to TPU did not influence the glass transition temperature, although the crystal structure changed from semi-crystalline to amorphous. The elastic modulus increased 40% by the addition of 5 wt % BiNFi-s (2.31 MPa) compared with plain TPU (1.65 MPa), and these composites exhibited shape recovery with clinically relevant changes in temperature. The addition of 5 wt % BiNFi-s into TPU resulted in an improvement in the elastic modulus without any decrease in the shape memory effect. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 1151-1156, 2017.
['Kawaguchi|Kyotaro|K|', 'Iijima|Masahiro|M|', 'Miyakawa|Hiroshi|H|', 'Ohta|Mitsuru|M|', 'Muguruma|Takeshi|T|', 'Endo|Kazuhiko|K|', 'Nakazawa|Futoshi|F|', 'Mizoguchi|Itaru|I|']
D048271:Chitosan D055119:Elastic Modulus D006358:Hot Temperature D011140:Polyurethanes
chitosan shape memory thermoplastic polyurethane mechanical properties polymer