Revealing Long-Range Order in Brush-like Graft Copolymers Through In Situ Measurements of X-Ray Scattering During Deformation.

ABSTRACT: Brush-like graft copolymers (A-g-B), in which linear A-blocks are randomly grafted onto the backbone of a brush-like B-block, exhibit intense strain-stiffening and high mechanical strength on par with load-bearing biological tissues such as skin and blood vessels. To elucidate molecular mechanisms underlying this tissue-mimetic behavior, in situ synchrotron X-ray scattering was measured during uniaxial stretching of bottlebrush- and comb-like graft copolymers with varying densities of poly(dimethyl siloxane) and poly(isobutylene) side chains. In an undeformed state, these copolymers revealed a single interference peak corresponding to the average spacing between the domains of linear A-blocks arranged in a disordered, liquid-like configuration. Under uniaxial stretching, the emergence of a

SUBMITTER: Umarov AZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11644117 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature