TY - GEN
T1 - Challenges for implementing polymer gels in defense applications
AU - Lenhart, Joseph L.
AU - Mrozek, Randy A.
AU - Shull, Kenneth R.
AU - Otim, Kathryn J.
N1 - Funding Information:
K. Otim was funded by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the National Physical Sciences Consortium Fellowship program. R. A. Mrozek was funded at ARL through a contract with the Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Engineering (ORISE). Certain commercial equipment and materials are identified in this paper in order to specify adequately the experimental procedure. In no case does such identification imply recommendations by the Army Research Laboratory nor does it imply that the material or equipment identified is necessarily the best available for this purpose.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Polymer gels are soft, lightly crosslinked polymers that are highly swollen with solvent. The gel properties can be tuned by manipulating the polymer and solvent chemistry, solvent loading, polymer and solvent chain architecture, and the incorporation of various fillers and additives. This tunability provides broad utility in military applications including electronic devices, sensors, robotics, multi-functional textiles, responsive coatings, combat medical care, and tissue surrogates for ballistic testing. While potentially useful, a number of challenges can hinder gel utility for the Army. This paper describes recent efforts that offer promise to overcome these obstacles, including improving operational temperature performance and gel toughness.
AB - Polymer gels are soft, lightly crosslinked polymers that are highly swollen with solvent. The gel properties can be tuned by manipulating the polymer and solvent chemistry, solvent loading, polymer and solvent chain architecture, and the incorporation of various fillers and additives. This tunability provides broad utility in military applications including electronic devices, sensors, robotics, multi-functional textiles, responsive coatings, combat medical care, and tissue surrogates for ballistic testing. While potentially useful, a number of challenges can hinder gel utility for the Army. This paper describes recent efforts that offer promise to overcome these obstacles, including improving operational temperature performance and gel toughness.
KW - Gelatin
KW - Polymer gel
KW - Toughness
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U2 - 10.1007/978-1-4614-4238-7_16
DO - 10.1007/978-1-4614-4238-7_16
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84869743105
SN - 9781461442370
T3 - Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series
SP - 125
EP - 133
BT - Dynamic Behavior of Materials - Proceedings of the 2012 Annual Conference on Experimental and Applied Mechanics
T2 - 2012 Annual Conference on Experimental and Applied Mechanics
Y2 - 11 June 2012 through 14 June 2012
ER -