作者：Song Gu, Yang Gao, Xiuyan Ren, Jianhong Yu, Lijie Duan, Guanghui Gao
关键字：hydrogels; hydrophobic association; mechanical property; methyl group; structure-property relations; toughness
论文来源：期刊
发表时间：2018年

ABSTRACT: Hydrophobic association hydrogels were fabricated

via micellar copolymerization of acrylamide and hydrophobic

monomers lauryl (meth)acrylate (LA or LMA) in an aqueous

solution of sodium dodecyl sulfate. The effect of methyl groups

of hydrophobic monomers on the crosslinking network structure

and mechanical behavior of the gels was investigated on the

basis of rubber elastic theory. It was found that the LMA-gel

exhibited higher effective crosslink density and elastic modulus.

The methyl groups of hydrophobic monomers limited the flexibility

of the methacrylate backbone in the association domain,

which resulted in the increment of chains constraints. With the

increase of stretch rate, the dissipated energy of LMA-gel

increased more highly than that of LA-gel. In addition, the

methyl group hindered the movement of polymer chains, leading

to the lower recovery efficiency of dissipated energy for

LMA-gel. In contract, the LA-gel exhibited a rapid response to

external force, and possessed better elasticity and self-recovery

property.