Morphology, phase separation, thermal and mechanical property differences of shape memory fibres prepared by different spinning methods

In this paper, the mechanical properties, especially the shape memory properties, of shape memory fibres (SMFs) prepared by the melt spinning method and the wet spinning method were studied. It was observed that the melt-spun SMFs had higher tenacity, breaking elongation and shape memory effect compared with those of wet-spun SMFs. The results from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) were used to understand the underlying physics behind these property differences. It is concluded that the melt-spun SMFs have higher phase separation, which results in both better soft segment and hard segment crystallization. To obtain higher-performance SMFs in general, the melt spinning method is preferred.