Exploration of Shape Memory Polymer for Automotive Coating Applications

Shape memory polymer (SMP) is one special kind of polymer which can recover back to permanent shape after being mechanically deformed. As for automotive coating, most of the defects occurs on the clear coat layer, if it can be replaced by shape memory polymer, the defects can be easily removed due to the self-healing ability of shape memory polymer. In this experiment, the self-healing ability of epoxy based shape memory polymer thin lm (around 100μm) is examined. Five indents on the thin lm shape memory polymer with depths from 4.9μm to 5.5μm are all disappeared after 15 minutes heating at 70oC. The average hardness of the polymer is 165 ± 2MPa and the modulus is 5.76 ± 0.02GPa (assume Possion’s ratio 0.4).