Polymer organic coatings often become brittle, then crack and fail. Hypotheses are easily
found for the chemical changes that cause embrittlement but not quantitative predictions for …

Understanding the relationship between the microscopic structure and topology of a material
and its macroscopic properties is a fundamental challenge across a wide range of systems …

The fracture of polymer networks and gels has a significant impact on the performance of
these versatile and widely used materials, and a molecular-level understanding of the …

We systematically examine the influence of varying temperature (T) over a large range in
model poly (vinyl acetate) gels swollen in isopropyl alcohol. The theta temperature Θ, at …

Understanding photodegradation of nanogels is critical for dynamic control of their
properties and functionalities. We focus on nanogels formed by end-linking of four-arm …

Inhomogeneous crosslinked polymers are powerful platforms for materials design, because
they can be synthesized from materials that provide complimentary properties to the …

The “classical” thermodynamic and statistical mechanical theories of Gibbs and Boltzmann
are both predicated on axiomatic assumptions whose applicability is hard to ascertain …

Molecular dynamics calculations have been used to explore the influence of knots on the
strength of a polymer strand. In particular, the mechanism of breaking 3 1, 4 1, 5 1, and 5 2 …

Low-crosslinked polymer networks have recently been found to behave auxetically when
subjected to small tensions, that is, their Poisson's ratio ν becomes negative. In addition, for …

The elasticity of polymer networks, formed by cross-linking high molecular mass polymers in
the melt state and then swollen by a solvent, involves contributions from both the presence …