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Strain-Stiffening In Synthetic And Biopolymer Networks, Kendra Erk, Kevin J. Henderson, Kenneth R. Shull
Strain-Stiffening In Synthetic And Biopolymer Networks, Kendra Erk, Kevin J. Henderson, Kenneth R. Shull
School of Materials Engineering Faculty Publications
Strain-stiffening behavior common to biopolymer networks is difficult to reproduce in synthetic networks. Physically associating synthetic polymer networks can be an exception to this rule and can demonstrate strain-stiffening behavior at relatively low values of strain. Here, the stiffening behavior of model elastic networks of physically associating triblock copolymers is characterized by shear rheometry. Experiments demonstrate a clear correlation between network structure and strain-stiffening behavior. Stiffening is accurately captured by a constitutive model with a single fitting parameter related to the midblock length. The same model is also effective for describing the stiffening of actin, collagen, and other biopolymer networks. …