Related papers: Defining Ideal Phantom Polymer Networks
Based upon the resistor analogy and using the ideal loop gas approximation(ILGA) it is shown that only pending loops reduce the modulus of an otherwise perfect network made of monodisperse strands and junctions of identical functionality.…
The influence of node functionality (f) on the fracture of polymer networks remains unclear. While many studies have focused on multi-functional nodes with f>4, recent research suggests that networks with f=3 exhibit superior fracture…
Despite numerous studies, the relationship between network structure and fracture remains unclear. In this study, the fracture properties of end-linking networks were compared with those of loop-free analogs made from star prepolymers by…
By phantom chain simulations, it has been recently discovered that the fracture characteristics of star polymer networks with different node functionality and conversion ratios can be described by the cycle rank of the networks [Masubuchi…
Fujiyabu et al. have experimentally reported that mixing of 3-arm star prepolymers into 4-arm analog improves the toughness of the resultant polymer networks compared to the base network composed of 4-arm star polymers only. For the…
Despite many attempts, the relation between fracture and structure of polymer networks is yet to be clarified. For this problem, a recent study for phantom chain simulations [Macromolecules, 56, 9359 (2023)] has demonstrated that the…
The diffusion process through an ideal polymer network is studied by applying the effective medium theory (EMT) to a lattice-gas model. Polymers are modeled by random walks on the lattice bonds, across which molecules can hop with a certain…
The scattering function and radius of gyration of an ideal polymer network are calculated depending on the strength of the bonds that form the crosslinks. Our calculations are based on an {\it exact} theorem for the characteristic function…
To design increasingly tough, resilient, and fatigue-resistant elastomers and hydrogels, the relationship between controllable network parameters at the molecular level to macroscopic quantities that govern damage and failure must be…
The relationship between the topological architecture of polymer networks and their macroscopic rupture remains a fundamental challenge in polymer physics. Recent coarse-grained simulations have revealed that the dependence of stretch at…
This study investigated the fracture of star polymer networks made from prepolymers with various arm molecular weights in the range $2 \leq N_a \leq 0$, for node functionalities $3 \leq f \leq 8$ and conversion ratios…
We study the diffusion process through an ideal polymer network, using numerical methods. Polymers are modeled by random walks on the bonds of a two-dimensional square lattice. Molecules occupy the lattice cells and may jump to the…
We use nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to verify recent tube-model predictions that associative polymer networks exhibit broad stretch fluctuations during elongational flow. Simulations further show that these fluctuating…
The impact of finite cycles on the phantom modulus in an otherwise perfect network is computed exactly. It is shown that pending cycles reduce the phantom modulus of the network by $kT/V$ independent of junction functionality. The…
The elasticity of disordered and polydisperse polymer networks is a fundamental problem of soft matter physics that is still open. Here, we self-assemble polymer networks via simulations of a mixture of bivalent and tri- or tetravalent…
The optimal fluctuation approach is applied to study the most distant (non-universal) tails of the free-energy distribution function P(F) for an elastic string (of a large but finite length L) interacting with a quenched random potential. A…
Amorphous systems of soft particles above jamming have more contacts than are needed to achieve mechanical equilibrium. The force network of a granular system with a fixed contact network is thus underdetermined, and can be characterized as…
The viscosity of the suspension consisting of fine particles dispersed in a Newtonian liquid diverges close to the jamming packing fraction. The contact microstructure in suspensions governs this macroscopic behavior in the vicinity of…
Liquid crystal elastomers realize a fascinating new form of soft matter that is a composite of a conventional crosslinked polymer gel (rubber) and a liquid crystal. These {\em solid} liquid crystal amalgams, quite similarly to their…
This is the first of two papers about the structure of Kauffman networks. In this paper we define the relevant elements of random networks of automata, following previous work by Flyvbjerg and Flyvbjerg and Kjaer, and we study numerically…