A Fractional Calculus Approach to the Prediction of Free Recovery Behaviors of Amorphous Shape Memory Polymers

Abstract

A fractional model generalized from the Zener model is proposed for the prediction of temperature-dependent free recovery behaviors of amorphous shape memory polymers (SMPs). This model differs from the Zener model in that it involves nonlinear differential equations of fractional, not integer, order. The theoretical solution based on this fractional model is utilized to simulate the isothermal and nonisothermal free recovery of an amorphous SMP compared with the one based on the Zener model. The results show a reasonable improvement in the prediction of the strain recovery response of SMP by the fractional calculus method.