Ultrahigh Ductile Gels Having Inter-Cross linking Network (ICN) Structure

Gels have unique properties such as low frictional properties, permeability and biocompatibility due to their high water content. In the last decade, several high-strength gels have been developed, which are promising for extending the application of gels as industrial materials. Previously we proposed novel ultrahigh ductile gels by defining inter-crosslinking network (ICN) structure. In this study, the mechanical properties of ICN gel was studied by experiments and theoretical estimations, and the mesh size of the internal network structure were determined. It is found that the Young's modulus of ICN gels calculated by experiments well matches with the theoretical estimations. The appropriate ICN gels achieves more than 61% increase in the ductility in comparison with normal poly(N; N - dimethylacrylamide) (PDMAAm) gels, by introducing the ICN structure. For the ICN gels, the density of chains calculated from the mesh-size is well consistent with the other densities calculated from the modulus and the water content, in comparison with the PDMAAm gels.