Microscopy of shape memory polymers, polymer blends, and composites

Abstract

Contemporary microscopes can magnify almost everything that is invisible to the naked eye, down to the atomic level. Current classifications include optical microscopy, electron microscopy, and scanning probe microscopy, in which optical one focuses on microscale while electron and scanning probe ones focus on the nanoscale. Microscopy is an indispensable technique of characterization for shape memory polymers (SMPs), including optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), infrared microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). In this chapter, the micro- and nanostructures of different shape memory polymers, blends, and composites will be discussed. The applications of these microscopical techniques will be outlined. A brief account of various types of morphologies and their impact on shape memory effects will be provided.