Journal
JOURNAL OF APPLIED MECHANICS-TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASME
Volume 85, Issue 3, Pages -Publisher
ASME
DOI: 10.1115/1.4038883
Keywords
polymer network; soft materials; damage mechanics
Categories
Funding
- University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, the Campus Research Board of University of Illinois [RB17043]
- Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation [1435920]
- NSF CAREER Award [1554326]
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research YIP award [FA9550-17-1-0295]
- Directorate For Engineering
- Div Of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufact Inn [1435920] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Div Of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufact Inn
- Directorate For Engineering [1554326] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The skeleton of many natural and artificial soft materials can be abstracted as networks of fibers/polymers interacting in a nonlinear fashion. Here, we present a numerical model for networks of nonlinear, elastic polymer chains with rate-dependent crosslinkers similar to what is found in gels. The model combines the worm-like chain (WLC) at the polymer level with the transition state theory for crosslinker bond dynamics. We study the damage evolution and the force-displacement response of these networks under uniaxial stretching for different loading rates, network topology, and crosslinking density. Our results suggest a complex nonmonotonic response as the loading rate or the crosslinking density increases. We discuss this in terms of the microscopic deformation mechanisms and suggest a novel framework for increasing toughness and ductility of polymer networks using a bio-inspired sacrificial bonds and hidden length (SBHL) mechanism. This work highlights the role of local network characteristics on macroscopic mechanical observables and opens new pathways for designing tough polymer networks.
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