2025 09 26. SIMM Seminar - Wei Hong

Comprised of a loosely crosslinked polymer network and abundant water, a hydrogel gel appears and feels like a liquid solution. It is natural to wonder whether the state of the polymer chains is like that in a solution, and how it is affected by synthesis and/or swelling/deswelling processes. Through systematic experiments, the mechanical properties of a set of hydrogels prepared through different processes are measured. Interesting results are found and rationalized through a set of scaling laws derived from the theory of semi-dilute solutions in conjunction with hypotheses on the underlying network topologies and structural evolution. In addition, further study on the fracture properties also suggests intriguing relations with the synthesis processes, which can also be rationalized through with the network structures resulting from the processes. These findings are helpful to the understanding of the process-property relations of polymeric materials, and to the design and synthesis of polymeric materials of extraordinary performance.