Evaluation of Mesh Size in Model Polymer Networks Consisting of Tetra-Arm and Linear Poly(ethylene glycol)s.

ABSTRACT: The structure and mechanical properties of model polymer networks consisting of alternating tetra-functional poly(ethylene glycol)s (PEGs) and bis-functional linear PEGs were investigated by dynamic light scattering and rheological measurements. The sizes of the correlation blob ( ξ c ) and the elastic blob ( ξ e l ) were obtained from these measurements and compared to the theoretical mesh size, the geometric blob ( ξ g ), calculated by using the tree-like approximation. By fixing the concentration of tetra-PEGs and tuning the molecular weight of linear-PEGs, we systematically compared these blob sizes in two cases: complete network (Case A) and incomplete network (Case B). The correlation blob, ξ c , obtained by dynamic light scattering (DLS) was found to obey the well-known concentratio

SUBMITTER: Tsuji Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6209252 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature