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Authors
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Li, W. ; Merlitz, H. ; Wu, C.-X. ; Cao, X.-Z.
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Title
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Role of breaking physical crosslinks on safeguarding polymer networks
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Date
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26.12.2022
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Number
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60618
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Abstract
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Polymer networks that are crosslinked jointly by covalent bonds and reversible physical bindings usually offer superior mechanical strength and toughness compared to their permanently crosslinked counterparts. By introducing short oligomers as stickers that bind physically to different polymer chains, the resulting polymer networks show a unique feature of dissipating stretching-induced energy, which is absent in permanent networks. We show that large sized clusters of physical crosslinks in a transient network break into smaller pieces when the transient network is stretched at strain rates sufficiently high that the transiently crosslinked structure is not given enough time to relax. After deducting the part of the stress that is generated solely by a thermal motion-driven structural readjustment of the transient network, the stress enhancement arising from a stretching-enforced breakup of physical crosslinks is quantitatively verified, demonstrating the sacrificial role played by these physical crosslinks in safeguarding the unrelaxed structure.
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Publisher
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Physical Review Materials
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Wikidata
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Citation
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Physical Review Materials 6 (2022) 123605
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DOI
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https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVMATERIALS.6.123605
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Tags
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