Abstract
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Like the water responsive shape memory (SM) effect of β-keratin bird feathers, α-keratin hairs either existing broadly in nature are found responsive to many types of coupled stimuli in SM behaviors. In this article, α-keratin hairs were investigated for the combined stimuli of thermo-solvent, solvent-solvent, and UV (radiation)-reductant sensitive SM abilities. The related netpoints and switches from the hair molecular networks were identified. The experimental results showed that α-keratin hairs manifested a higher ability of shape fixation under thermal stimulus followed with the stimuli of solvent and UV-radiation. Shape recovery from the hair with a temporarily fixed shape showed a higher recovery ability using solvent than the stimuli of heat and UV-radiation. The effects of coupled stimuli on hair's shape fixation and recovery and on variations of the crystal, disulfide, and hydrogen bonds were studied systematically. A structural network model was thereafter proposed to interpret the multi-coupled stimuli sensitive SM of α-keratin hair. This original study is expected to provide inspiration for exploring other natural fibers to reveal related smart functions and for making more types of remarkable adapted synthetic materials.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 87 |
| Journal | Polymers |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2017 |
Keywords
- Coupled stimuli
- Network model
- Shape memory
- α-keratin fiber
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry
- Polymers and Plastics