Related papers: Topological Interaction between Loop Structures in…
Disordered spring networks are a useful paradigm to examine macroscopic mechanical properties of amorphous materials. Here, we study the elastic behavior of under-constrained spring networks, i.e.\ networks with more degrees of freedom than…
In this study, a versatile methodology for initiating polymerization from monomers in highly cross-linked materials is investigated. As polymerization progresses, force-field parameters undergo continuous modification due to the formation…
Unconcatenated, unknotted polymer rings in the melt are subject to strong interactions with neighboring chains due to the presence of topological constraints. We study this by computer simulation using the bond-fluctuation algorithm for…
Since the invention of polymer networks in the 19th century (e.g., crosslinked natural rubber by Goodyear), it has been a dogma that stiffer networks are less stretchable, a trade-off inherent to the molecular nature of polymer network…
This paper discusses the elastic behavior of polyelectrolyte networks. The deformation behavior of single polyelectrolyte chains is discussed. It is shown that a strong coupling between interactions and chain elasticity exists. The theory…
Adding dynamic bonds in polymer networks enables reprocessing and recycling; however the full impact of reversible bonds on dynamic network mechanics remains unclear. We build model dynamic networks and observe substantial deviations from…
We recently found that the energy contribution to the linear elasticity of polymer gels in the as-prepared state can be a significant negative value; the shear modulus is not proportional to the absolute temperature [Y. Yoshikawa et al.,…
A topological interlocking assembly is an arrangement of blocks, where all blocks are kinematically constrained by their neighboring blocks and a fixed frame. This concept has been known for a long time, attracting recent interest due to…
We consider the statistical mechanics of a system of topologically linked polymers, such as for instance a dense solution of polymer rings. If the possible topological states of the system are distinguished using the Gauss linking number as…
The mechanics of disordered fibrous networks such as those that make up the extracellular matrix are strongly dependent on the local connectivity or coordination number. For biopolymer networks this coordination number is typically between…
In this article we investigate the possibility of generating piezoelectric orbital polarization in graphene-like systems which are deformed periodically. We start with discrete two-level models which depend on control parameters; in this…
This study focuses on comparing the individual polymer chain dynamics in an entangled polymeric liquid under different shear and extension rates. Polymer chains under various shear rates and extension rates were simulated using a…
Experiments have shown that elasticity of disordered filamentous networks with compliant crosslinks is very different from networks with rigid crosslinks. Here, we model and analyze filamentous networks as a collection of randomly oriented…
We present a new apparatus that probes simultaneously the macroscopic mechanical response and the microscopic motion in polymer networks under uni-axial strain. The setup leverages photon correlation imaging, a space- and time-resolved…
We study the interplay between entropy and topological constraints for a polymer chain in which sliding rings (slip-links) enforce pair contacts between monomers. These slip-links divide a closed ring polymer into a number of sub-loops…
The effect of network chain distribution on the mechanical behavior of elastomers is one of the long-standing problems in rubber mechanics. The classical theory of rubber elasticity is built upon the assumption of entropic elasticity of…
Brownian motion and viscoelasticity of semiflexible polymers is a subject that has been studied for many years. Still, rigorous analysis has been hindered due to the difficulty in handling the constraint that polymer chains cannot be…
Disordered filamentous networks with compliant crosslinks exhibit a low linear elastic shear modulus at small strains, but stiffen dramatically at high strains. Experiments have shown that the elastic modulus can increase by up to three…
Flexible mechanical metamaterials possess repeating structural motifs that imbue them with novel, exciting properties including programmability, anomalous elastic moduli and nonlinear and robust response. We address such structures via…
We use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the microscopic and macroscopic response of model polymer networks to uniaxial elongations. By studying networks with strands lengths ranging from $N_s=20$ to 200 we cover the full…