Hydration and dynamic state of nanoconfined polymer layers govern toughness in nacre-mimetic nanocomposites.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 23913740.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1002/adma.201301881.
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Abstract
Biological high-performance composites inspire to create new tough, strong, and stiff structural materials. We show a brittle-to-ductile transition in a self-assembled nacre-inspired poly(vinyl alcohol)/nanoclay composite based on a hydration-induced glass-to-rubber transition in the 2D-nanoconfined poly(vinyl alcohol) layers. The findings open routes to design dissipative toughening mechanisms to combine stiffness and strength in nanocomposites.