Abstract

The demand of consumer is rapidly changing in this twenty-first century with the unprecedented growth of science and technology resulting in more ambitious requirement from a textile. With the discovery of new polymers and their integration methods, today a textile can offer novel smart functions including shape memory, stress memory, super-hydrophobicity, superconductivity, photochromism, and temperature change. One of such breakthroughs is the application of stimulus-responsive memory polymers (MPs) in textiles and apparel. MP demonstrate shape memory ability that permits programming or fixing of different deformed shapes from an original (permanent) shape, and simultaneously allows the shape recovery to the original shape by external stimulus. This entry presents a brief description on the research and development of the MP, ranging from their memory functions and structural characterization, e.g., raw materials, different properties, and diversified functions to their wide application potential in textiles. More emphasis has been given to understand their morphology, their immense application capabilities, different functionalities, and production methods to realize tunable properties which would help a reader to think for designing and applying appropriate MP systems for a particular textile application. MP can be used in different forms including film, foam, fiber, solution, and fabric. Some recent developments, especially the discovery of stress memory function in the MP network, and this memory function has potential in medical compression and dynamic mattresses are also introduced. Future areas are also mentioned with an emphasis on the much needed research and development on different MP-based textile structures.