A team led by Patrick T.

Mather, director of Syracuse Biomaterials Institute (SBI) and Milton and Ann Stevenson professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in Syracuse University's L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS), has succeeded in applying the concept of functionally graded materials (FGMs) to shape memory polymers (SMPs). SMPs are a class of "smart" materials that can switch between two shapes, from a fixed (temporary) shape to a predetermined permanent shape. Shape memory polymers function as actuators, by first forming a heated article into a temporary shape and cooling. Then, by using a second stimulus (i.e. heat), the article can spring back to its original shape. To date, SMPs have been limited to two-way and three-way shape configurations. Mather has successfully built a process where sections of one shape memory polymer independently react to different temperature stimuli. This work has been highlighted on the cover of the January 2011 issue of Soft Matter, the leading journal in the field of soft matter research. Functionally graded materials are defined as synthetic materials where the composition, microstructure and other properties differ along sections of the material. The goal of Mather's research was to apply this theory to SMPs and create a material that could be fixed and recovered in one section without impacting the response of the other sections. Mather created a temperature gradient plate by applying heat at one end and using a cooling unit at the other end. The actual temperature gradient was verified by measuring different positions along the plate. The SMP was cured on this plate to set the different transition temperature. Mather first tested the graded SMP by using micro-indention on the surface and then heating the polymer. When heated, each indentation recovered to the original smooth surface as each one's transition temperature was reached along the surface. The second test involved cutting the SMP and bending back the cut sections. This SMP was placed on a Pelletier plate that uniformly heated the material. It was observed that as the plate warmed, each "finger" of the cut sheet independently recovered back to its unbent shape as the temperature of the plate reached its transition temperature. "We are very excited about this new approach to preparing shape memory polymers, which should enable new devices with complex mechanical articulations," says Mather. "The project demonstrated how enthusiastic and persistent undergraduate researchers could contribute substantively, even in the throes of their busy course schedules." There are numerous applications opportunities for Mather's functionally graded SMPs, from low-cost temperature labels that could measure temperatures in areas that are not accessible by conventional methods or not amenable to continuous monitoring, to indirectly indicate sterilization completions, or for incorporation into product packaging (for shipping industry or food storage) to indicate the maximum temperature for a product exposure.

Michael Kessler has worked with polymers that repair themselves when they crack. And he's worked with polymers made from vegetable oils. Now he's working to combine the two technologies. Kessler, an Iowa State University associate professor of materials science and engineering and an associate of the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, is researching and developing biorenewable polymers capable of healing themselves as they degrade and crack. "If successful, the results of this research will provide biorenewable alternatives to petroleum-based resins," says a summary of Kessler's research project. Successfully developing the concept "should have a huge impact economically and environmentally." Kessler's research project is supported by a five-year, $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Program. Kessler started working with self-healing materials as a doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was part of a research team that in February 2001 published an article in the journal Nature that helped launch the field. The technology has evolved into a system that embeds catalysts and microcapsules containing a liquid healing agent within a composite. As cracks develop in the composite, they rupture the microcapsules and release the healing agent. The healing agent contacts the catalyst and reacts by forming 3-D polymer chains that fill the cracks. That increases material lifetimes and reduces maintenance.

Visit his office, and Kessler will pull out a little container half filled with what looks like fine yellow powder. Those are the hollow microcapsules that make the self-healing process work, he said. (They're also the same technology behind scratch-and-sniff perfume ads.) When Kessler joined Iowa State and the Ames Laboratory in 2005, he started working with Richard Larock, a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and associate of the Ames Laboratory, to develop biorenewable polymers from vegetable oils. Larock has invented and patented a process for producing various bioplastics from inexpensive natural oils, which make up 40 percent to 80 percent of the plastics. Larock has said the plastics have excellent thermal and mechanical properties and are very good at dampening noises and vibrations. They're also very good at returning to their original shapes when they're heated. But can they be developed into a self-healing material? Early results show there's laboratory work to do. Kessler's research has found that a healing agent for a polymer based on tung oil works too fast. Kessler and Peter Hondred, an Iowa State graduate student in materials science and engineering, are working to slow the agent for better healing. The researchers are also working to develop encapsulating techniques that work with biorenewable polymers. And they're working to develop bio-based healing agents. Despite the challenges, Kessler thinks there is potential to develop selfhealing, biorenewable materials. He said the big question is whether researchers can push the healing efficiency of biorenewable polymers close to the 90 percent of standard composites.

A team of researchers from Syracuse University has succeeded in applying the concept of functionally graded materials to shape memory polymers.