The maximum stress of the MTPI with carboxylates was larger than that of the protonated MTPI. Above the melting temperature, the Young's modulus of MTPI with carboxylates was higher than that of neat TPI and the protonated MTPI, due to dynamically crosslinked network structure. Furthermore, the MTPI with 1% carboxylate content exhibited excellent shape memory-recovery properties, exploiting the combination of the physical crosslinking and the melting of the crystal. The resulting materials are expected to contribute to the development of bio-based intelligent materials. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.