Swelling of Olympic gels

The swelling equilibrium of Olympic gels, which are composed of entangled cyclic polymers, is studied by Monte Carlo simulations. In contrast to chemically cross-linked polymer networks, we observe that Olympic gels made of chains with a larger degree of polymerization, N, exhibit a smaller equilibr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 112; no. 23; p. 238001
Main Authors Lang, M, Fischer, J, Werner, M, Sommer, J-U
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 13.06.2014
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Summary:The swelling equilibrium of Olympic gels, which are composed of entangled cyclic polymers, is studied by Monte Carlo simulations. In contrast to chemically cross-linked polymer networks, we observe that Olympic gels made of chains with a larger degree of polymerization, N, exhibit a smaller equilibrium swelling degree, Q ∝ N(-0.28)ϕ(0)(-0.72), at the same polymer volume fraction ϕ(0) at network preparation. This observation is explained by a desinterspersion (reorganization with release of nontrapped entanglements) process of overlapping nonconcatenated rings upon swelling.
ISSN:1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.238001