Possibilities of usage for shape memory materials in medical textiles

Shape memory materials are intelligent material systems that can react to environmental changes and different stimuli. Alloys and polymers are one of the most widely used materials that exhibit shape memory properties. The phase transformations occurring in shape memory alloys make the materials compatible with the shape changes by external factors such as temperature, magnetic or electric field. Shape memory alloys are widely used in various fields ranging from automotive to medical applications and can be produced as bulk, thin film, wire and sheet structures. The current uses in textiles are the addition of alloys to the textile structure in wire form. In this thesis, the use of shape memory alloys as an additive in polymer materials and obtaining shape memory composite structures were studied. Alloys prepared as additives are specially produced by melting method after preparation of various components in different proportions particle form and whisker form obtained from thin films were added to the polymer material. The produced shape memory alloys were used as target material in the magnetron sputtering system and thin films were produced with this system. Whiskers were obtained by removing the thin films from the substrate surface, and the particles were obtained by mechanical reduction of the alloy materials produced. The crystal structures, morphological properties, phase transformation temperatures were investigated, characterized, and these alloys were added to the polymer in particle and whisker state in different ratios. In this way, the effect of alloys on the shape memory property of the composite structures produced was investigated. The best shape memory effect was taken from composite films which alloy particles were added at the ratio of two and three percent by weight. In addition, promising results were obtained for further studies for the production of alloys with different components and the production of thin films exhibiting phase transformation. In this study, the structures having the effect of shape memory can be transformed by stimulating with body temperature and this shows that it can be used in medical products such as corsets, medical products like bandages, or various textile products with functional structure.