Fiber-reinforced tough hydrogels
Author
Sun, Jeong-Yun
Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eml.2014.11.001Metadata
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Illeperuma, Widusha R.K., Jeong-Yun Sun, Zhigang Suo, and Joost J. Vlassak. 2014. “Fiber-Reinforced Tough Hydrogels.” Extreme Mechanics Letters (November). doi:10.1016/j.eml.2014.11.001.Abstract
Using strong fibers to reinforce a hydrogel is highly desirable but difficult. Such a composite would combine the attributes of a solid that provides strength and a liquid that transports matter. Most hydrogels, however, are brittle, allowing the fibers to cut through the hydrogel when the composite is loaded. Here we circumvent this problem by using a recently developed tough hydrogel. We fabricate a composite using an alginate-polyacrylamide hydrogel reinforced with a random network of stainless steel fibers. Because the hydrogel is tough, the composite does not fail by the fibers cutting the hydrogel; instead, it fails by the fibers pulling out of the hydrogel against friction. Both stiffness and strength can be increased significantly by adding fibers to the hydrogel. Before failure the composite dissipates a significant amount of energy, at a tunable level of stress, attaining large deformation. Potential applications of tough hydrogel composites include energy-absorbing helmets, tendon repair surgery, and stretchable biometric sensors.Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#OAPCitable link to this page
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:13919163
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