Main applications of smart polymers

Shape memory materials are useful for many applications and interest in them is likely to increase in the future. In this section we report the main applications of SMPs by dividing them into two sub-sections the first one is dedicated to biomedical applications as this sector is the most active in current research and industrial developments while the second one groups all the other applications. The main applications of SMPs reported in the scientific literature are summarized in Table 7.2. 

1 Biomedical applications biocompatible shape memory polymers 

The use of polymers in the biomedical sector began in the mid-twentieth century and, since then, has increased constantly. It is important to emphasize that there are specific requirements and limitations in using SMPs for biomedical applications. They should have small recovery times, be biocompatible and, depending on their specific applications, should be also biodegradable. Moreover, for these SMMs, their transition temperature should be in the order of body temperature in order to avoid tissue harm and to be able to use body temperature as the switching temperature. 

Tissue engineering scaffolds Migneco etal., 2009 Neuss etal., 2009 

Drug delivery systems Wischke and Lendlein, 2010 Wischke etal., 2010 

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