Revisiting the strain-induced softening behaviour in hydrogels.
Soft Matter
; 20(28): 5616-5624, 2024 Jul 17.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38979672
ABSTRACT
The strain-induced softening behaviour observed in the differential modulus K(T,γ) of hydrogels is typically attributed to the breakage of internal network structures, such as the cross-links that bind the polymer chains. In this study, however, we consider a stress-strain relationship derived from a coarse-grained model to demonstrate that rupture of the network is not necessary for rubber-like gels to exhibit such behaviour. In particular, we show that, in some cases, the decrease of K(T,γ) as a function of the strain γ can be associated with the energy-related contribution to the elastic modulus that has been experimentally observed, e.g., for tetra-PEG hydrogels. Our findings suggest that the softening behaviour can be also attributed to the effective interaction between polymer chains and their surrounding solvent molecules, rather than the breakage of structural elements. We compare our theoretical expressions with experimental data determined for several hydrogels to illustrate and validate our approach.
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1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Soft Matter
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Brasil
Pais de publicación:
Reino Unido