Sacrificial Mechanical Bond is as Effective as a Sacrificial Covalent Bond in Increasing Cross-Linked Polymer Toughness.

ABSTRACT: Sacrificial chemical bonds have been used effectively to increase the toughness of elastomers because such bonds dissociate at forces significantly below the fracture limit of the primary load-bearing bonds, thereby dissipating local stress. This approach owes much of its success to the ability to adjust the threshold force at which the sacrificial bonds fail at the desired rate, for example, by selecting either covalent or noncovalent sacrificial bonds. Here, we report experimental and computational evidence that a mechanical bond, responsible for the structural integrity of a rotaxane or a catenane, increases the elastomer's fracture strain, stress, and energy as much as a covalent bond of comparable mechanochemical dissociation kinetics. We synthesized and studied 6 polyacrylates cross-

SUBMITTER: Yokochi H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10623562 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature