Phase-Separation-Induced Anomalous Stiffening, Toughening, and Self-Healing of Polyacrylamide Gels.

Sato, Koshiro; Nakajima, Tasuku; Hisamatsu, Toshiyuki; Nonoyama, Takayuki; Kurokawa, Takayuki; Gong, Jian Ping · Adv Mater · 2015

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

Novel, tough, strong, and self-healable poly-acrylamide (PAAm) gels are fabricated by inducing an appropriate phase-separation structure using a poor solvent. The phase separation induces a gel-glass-like transition of the PAAm gels, providing the gels an anomalously high modulus (211 MPa), fracture stress (7.13 MPa), and fracture energy (4.16 × 10(4) J m(-2)), while keeping a high solvent content (≈60 vol%).