Quantitative Macromolecular Modeling Assay of Biopolymer-Based Hydrogels

Abroug N, Schöbel L, Boccaccini AR, Seitz H (2024)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2024

Journal

Gels MDPI

Book Volume: 10

Article Number: 676

Journal Issue: 11

DOI: 10.3390/gels10110676

Abstract

The rubber elasticity theory has been lengthily applied to several polymeric hydrogel substances and upgraded from idealistic models to consider imperfections in the polymer network. The theory relies solely on hyperelastic material models in order to provide a description of the elastic polymer network. While this is also applicable to polymer gels, such hydrogels are rather characterized by their water content and visco-elastic mechanical properties. In this work, we applied rubber elasticity constitutive models through hyperelastic parameter identification of hydrogels based on their stress–strain response to compression. We further performed swelling experiments and determined the intrinsic properties, i.e., density, of the specimens and their components. Additionally, we estimated their equilibrium swelling and employed it in the swelling-equilibrium theory in order to determine the polymer–solvent interaction parameter of each hydrogel with regard to cross-linking. Our results show that the average mesh size obtained from the rubber elasticity theory can be regarded as a concentration-dependent characteristic length of the hydrogel’s network and couples the non-linear elastic response to the specimens’ inherent visco-elasticity through hysteresis as a quantifier of energy dissipation under large deformation.

Authors with CRIS profile

Lisa Schöbel Lehrstuhl für Werkstoffwissenschaften (Biomaterialien) Aldo Boccaccini Lehrstuhl für Werkstoffwissenschaften (Biomaterialien)

Additional Organisation(s)

FAU Forschungszentrum Neue Wirkstoffe (FAU NeW)

Involved external institutions

Universität Rostock DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Abroug, N., Schöbel, L., Boccaccini, A.R., & Seitz, H. (2024). Quantitative Macromolecular Modeling Assay of Biopolymer-Based Hydrogels. Gels, 10(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/gels10110676

MLA:

Abroug, Nada, et al. "Quantitative Macromolecular Modeling Assay of Biopolymer-Based Hydrogels." Gels 10.11 (2024).

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