TY - JOUR
T1 - Fracture, fatigue, and friction of polymers in which entanglements greatly outnumber cross-links
AU - Kim, Junsoo
AU - Zhang, Guogao
AU - Shi, Meixuanzi
AU - Suo, Zhigang
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by MRSEC (DMR-2011754). J.K. acknowledges financial support from the Kwanjeong Educational Foundation. G.Z. acknowledges support from the Office of China Postdoctoral Council. M.S. is a visiting student at Harvard University supported by the China Scholarship Council.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/10/8
Y1 - 2021/10/8
N2 - In gels and elastomers, the role of entanglements on deformation has been studied, but their effects on fracture, fatigue, and friction are less well understood. In this study, we synthesized polymers in which entanglements greatly outnumber cross-links. The dense entanglements enable transmission of tension in a polymer chain along its length and to many other chains. The sparse cross-links prevent the polymer chains from disentangling. These polymers have high toughness, strength, and fatigue resistance. After submersion in water, the polymers swell to equilibrium, and the resulting hydrogels have low hysteresis, low friction, and high wear resistance.
AB - In gels and elastomers, the role of entanglements on deformation has been studied, but their effects on fracture, fatigue, and friction are less well understood. In this study, we synthesized polymers in which entanglements greatly outnumber cross-links. The dense entanglements enable transmission of tension in a polymer chain along its length and to many other chains. The sparse cross-links prevent the polymer chains from disentangling. These polymers have high toughness, strength, and fatigue resistance. After submersion in water, the polymers swell to equilibrium, and the resulting hydrogels have low hysteresis, low friction, and high wear resistance.
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U2 - 10.1126/science.abg6320
DO - 10.1126/science.abg6320
M3 - Article
C2 - 34618571
AN - SCOPUS:85116796649
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 374
SP - 212
EP - 216
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6564
ER -