**Polyurethane: A Shape Memory Polymer (SMP)**

**Polyurethane: A Shape Memory Polymer (SMP)**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.69992

Suman Thakur and Jinlian Hu Suman Thakur and Jinlian Hu Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69992

## **Abstract**

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52 Aspects of Polyurethanes

10.1007/BF03218929

2017-01-25]

2017-01-25]

s10544-007-9047-5

DOI: 10.1039/C3TB20316F

Shape memory polymer (SMP) is a stimuli-responsive material with the ability to alter a programmed shape to its original shape upon triggering of an appropriate stimulus. For the past decades, SMP has dragged much interest in material field owing to its various and versatile applications. One archetypal SMP is polyurethane, which has a wideranging transition temperature for its shape recovery, retraction temperatures, inherent soft-hard segments, a high recoverable strain (up to 400%), high control of the softening, favorable and tunable physical properties, and so on. This chapter emphasizes on the raw materials required for the synthesis of shape memory polyurethane (SMPU), the principle of shape memory function, the design of protocol of SMPU, and their applications with future directions.

**Keywords:** polyurethane, shape memory, smart, stimulus sensitive
