Work

Stress-relaxation behavior in gels with ionic and covalent crosslinks

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: Long-chained polymers in alginate hydrogels can form networks by either ionic or covalent crosslinks. This paper shows that the type of crosslinks can markedly affect the stress-relaxation behavior of the gels. In gels with only ionic crosslinks, stress relaxes mainly through breaking and subsequent reforming of the ionic crosslinks, and the time scale of the relaxation is independent of the size of the sample. By contrast, in gels with only covalent crosslinks, stress relaxes mainly through migration of water, and the relaxation slows down as the size of the sample increases. Implications of these observations are discussed.

Source: Journal of Applied Physics

DOI: 10.1063/1.3343265

Authors: Xuanhe Zhao, Nathaniel Huebsch, David J. Mooney, Zhigang Suo

Institutions: Harvard University, Harvard–MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

Language: English

Topic: Hydrogels: synthesis, properties, applications

Subfield: Biomaterials

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze