Short glass fiber reinforced radiation crosslinked shape memory SBS/LLDPE blends

The poly(styrene‐b‐butadiene‐b‐styrene) triblock copolymer (SBS) and linear low density polyethylene(LLDPE) were blended and irradiated by γ‐rays to prepare shape memory polymer(SMP). Various amounts of short glass fiber (SGF) were filled into SMP to form a novel shape memory SGF/SBS/LLDPE composite. The effect of SGF on the shape memory SGF/SBS/LLDPE composite was studied in terms of mechanical, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and shape memory effects. It is found that the SGF act as reinforcing fillers and significantly augment the glassy and rubbery stated moduli, tensile strength and shape memory properties. When SGF content is <2.0 wt %, full recovery can be observed after only several minutes at different temperatures and shape recovery speed reduces as the SGF content increases. The shape recovery time decreases as the temperature of the shape memory test increases and the shape recovery rate decreases with increment of cycle times. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40691.