Related papers: Revisiting the strain-induced softening behaviour …
We show how dynamic heterogeneities (DH), a hallmark of glass-forming materials, depend on chain flexibility and chain length in polymers. For highly flexible polymers, a relatively large number of monomers ($N_c\sim500$) undergo correlated…
Viscoelastic and thermodynamic properties of transient gels formed by telechelic polymers are studied on the basis of the transient network theory that takes account of the correlation among polymer chains via network junctions. The global…
We report on rate-dependent fracture energy measurements over three decades of steady crack velocities in alginate and gelatin hydrogels. We evidence that, irrespective of gel thermo-reversibility, thermally activated "unzipping" of the…
Constitutive equations are derived for the time-dependent behavior of particle-reinforced elastomers at isothermal loading with finite strains. A rubbery polymer is modelled as a network of macromolecules bridged by junctions which can slip…
Hydrogels are crosslinked polymer networks with high water content, widely employed in biomedical applications such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. Injectable, depot-forming hydrogels enable sustained…
The toughness of a polymer material can increase significantly if two networks are combined into one material. This toughening effect is a consequence of a transition from a brittle to a ductile failure response. Although this transition…
Hydrogel consists of a crosslinked polymer matrix imbibed with a solvent such as water at volume fractions that can exceed 90\%. They are important in many scientific and engineering applications due to their tunable physiochemical…
We characterize the fluctuation properties of a polymer chain under external tension and the fluctuation-induced forces between two ring molecules threaded around the chain. The problem is relevant in the context of fluctuation-induced…
Hypothesis: While the mechanical disruption of microscopic structures in complex fluids by large shear flows has been studied extensively, the effects of applied strains on the dielectric properties of macromolecular aggregates has received…
Using the theory of elasticity of polymer gels we show that large-scale cross-link density patterns written into the structure of the network in the melt state, can be revealed upon swelling by monitoring the monomer density patterns. We…
Hydrogels have the ability to undergo large deformations and yet fail like brittle materials. The development of biocompatible hydrogels with high strength and toughness is an ongoing challenge in many applications. We crosslinked bovine…
In this article, we analyze different factors that affect the diffusion behavior of small tracer particles (as they are used e.g.in fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS)) in the polymer network of a hydrogel and perform simulations of…
Hybrid double-network hydrogels are a class of material that comprise transiently and permanently crosslinked polymer networks and exhibit an enhanced toughness that is believed to be governed by the yielding of the transient polymer…
Glassy polymers show strain hardening: at constant extensional load, their flow first accelerates, then arrests. Recent experiments have found this to be accompanied by a striking and unexplained dip in the segmental relaxation time. Here…
Residual stress engineering is very widely used in the design of new advanced lightweight materials. For metallic glasses the attention has been on structural changes and rejuvenation processes. High energy scanning X-ray diffraction strain…
We explore the influence of particle softness and internal structure on both the bulk and interfacial rheological properties of colloidal suspensions. We probe bulk stresses by conventional rheology, by measuring the flow curves, shear…
The spacial heterogeneity of hydrogels composed of PEGDA and added polymer chains is expected to play a crucial role on their transport properties which can be exploited in filtration or tissue engineering. However little is known about the…
We represent a theory of polymer gelation as an analogue of liquid-glass transition in which elastic fields of stress and strain shear components appear spontaneously as a consequence of the cross-linking of macromolecules. This…
The structural complexity of soft gels is at the origin of a versatile mechanical response that allows for large deformations, controlled elastic recovery and toughness in the same material. A limit to exploiting the potential of such…
A new strain energy function for the hyperelastic modelling of ligaments and tendons based on the geometrical arrangement of their fibrils is derived. The distribution of the crimp angles of the fibrils is used to determine the…