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Influence of Ring Size on the Mechanical Properties of Movable Cross-Linked Polymers: Experimental and Simulation Studies
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DOI：10.1021/acs.macromol.6c00532.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Movable cross-linked polymers exhibit unique mechanical properties arising from the sliding motion of rings along polymer chains and have attracted considerable attention as a promising strategy to overcome the conventional trade-off between elasticity and toughness in polymer materials. Despite their importance, the influence of ring size on mechanical properties in movable cross-linked polymers remains insufficiently understood. The general problem addressed in this study is how the size of cyclic cross-linking units governs the mechanical properties of movable cross-linked polymers through network structures and topological effects. Here, the movable cross-linked polymers with different ring sizes were prepared using three types of acetylated cyclodextrin (CD) monomers: α-, β-, and γ-CDs, and the influence of ring size on their mechanical properties was investigated through both experimental and simulation studies. Experimental tensile tests and dielectric spectroscopy reveal that increasing ring size enhances Young’s modulus by increasing the effective cross-link density, as reflected by a higher penetration probability (p). In contrast, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations demonstrate that smaller rings require greater energy for chain extraction due to their tighter structures. Furthermore, simulations clarify that trapped CDs behave similarly to permanent cross-links, whereas untrapped CDs allow chain release under large deformation, and free CDs do not contribute to load transfer. These results provide a unified molecular-level understanding of how ring size and cross-linking style cooperatively determine the mechanical performance of movable cross-linked polymers. This study establishes design guidelines for tuning elasticity and toughness in topologically cross-linked polymer networks.
Keywords:
Cadmium sulfide
Deformation
Nucleic acid structure
Polymer chains
Polymers
Journal
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5.2
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3.6W
Citations:
9.4W
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