Related papers: Mechanical Forces Quench Frontal Polymerization: E…
Polymerization is a fundamental chemical process enabling large-scale production of material components across modern industries. By transforming a monomer mixture into a cross-linked polymer network, polymerization induces changes in…
Frontal Polymerization (FP) was recently demonstrated as a faster, more energy-efficient way to manufacture fiber-reinforced thermosetting-polymer-matrix composites. FP uses heat from the exothermic reaction of the solution of monomer and…
Frontal polymerization (FP) enables rapid curing of thermosets via a self-sustaining thermal wave, but its propagation mechanism can shift dramatically depending on processing conditions. In this study, we investigate the effect of trigger…
Large-scale simulations of thermal welding of polymers are performed to investigate the rise of mechanical strength at the polymer-polymer interface with the welding time. The welding process is in the core of integrating polymeric elements…
Frontal polymerization (FP) is an approach for thermosetting plastics at lower energy cost than an autoclave. The potential to generate simultaneous propagation of multiple polymerization fronts has been discussed as an exciting…
Understanding how to produce forces using biomolecular building blocks is essential for the development of adaptive synthetic cells and living materials. Here we ask whether a dynamic polymer system can generate deformation forces in soft…
Polymer nanoparticle composites (PNC) with ultra high loading of nanoparticles (> 50%) have been shown to exhibit markedly improved strength, stiffness, and toughness simultaneously compared to the neat systems of their components. Recent…
Polymers are a versatile class of materials with widespread industrial applications. Advanced computational tools could revolutionize their design, but their complex, multi-scale nature poses significant modeling challenges. Conventional…
This paper examines the effect of cooling on disentanglement forces in polymers and the implications for both single chain pullout and polymer dynamics. I derive the explicit dependence of the distribution of these forces on temperature,…
We propose a continuum theory to model the Mullins effect, which is ubiquitously observed in polymer composites. In the theory, the softening of the materials during the stretching process is accounted for by considering the delamination of…
Progressive damage, which eventually leads to failure, is ubiquitous in biological and synthetic polymers. The simplest case to consider is that of elastomeric materials, which can undergo large reversible deformations with negligible rate…
Forced detachment of a single polymer chain, strongly-adsorbed on a solid substrate, is investigated by two complementary methods: a coarse-grained analytical dynamical model, based on the Onsager stochastic equation, and Molecular Dynamics…
As a prototype of systems bearing a localization-delocalization transition, the strand-separation (melting) process in a double-stranded biopolymer is studied by a mapping to a quantum-mechanical problem with short-ranged potentials. Both…
The cavitation flow of linear-polymer solutions around a cylinder is studied by performing a large-scale molecular dynamics simulation. The addition of polymer chains remarkably suppresses the cavitation. The polymers are stretched into a…
A thermodynamic framework has been developed for a class of amorphous polymers used in fused deposition modeling (FDM), in order to predict the residual stresses and the accompanying distortion of the geometry of the printed part (warping).…
We study the model of a partially directed flexible or semi-flexible homopolymer on a square lattice, subject to an externally applied force, in a direction either parallel to, or perpendicular to the preferred direction. The polymer is…
Complex flow fields govern the deformation of polymers in various manufacturing processes. However, high flow rates may trigger reaction events (i.e., bond breaking or undesirable reaction of mechanophores) in raw polymeric materials,…
This study investigated, experimentally and numerically, the fracturing behavior of thermoset polymer structures featuring cracks and sharp u-notches. It is shown that, even for cases in which the sharpness of the notch would suggest…
Although 3D printing has the potential to transform manufacturing processes, the strength of printed parts often does not rival that of traditionally-manufactured parts. The fused-filament fabrication method involves melting a…
Self-healing of polymer films often takes place as the molecules diffuse across a damaged region, above their melting temperature. Using molecular dynamics simulations we probe the healing of polymer films and compare the results with those…