Modeling the contact mechanics of hydrogels

dc.bibliographicCitation.firstPage35eng
dc.bibliographicCitation.journalTitleLubricantseng
dc.bibliographicCitation.lastPage210eng
dc.bibliographicCitation.volume7eng
dc.contributor.authorMueser, M.H.
dc.contributor.authorLi, H.
dc.contributor.authorBennewitz, R.
dc.date.accessioned2020-01-14T06:56:42Z
dc.date.available2020-01-14T06:56:42Z
dc.date.issued2019
dc.description.abstractA computationally lean model for the coarse-grained description of contact mechanics of hydrogels is proposed and characterized. It consists of a simple bead-spring model for the interaction within a chain, potentials describing the interaction between monomers and mold or confining walls, and a coarse-grained potential reflecting the solvent-mediated effective repulsion between non-bonded monomers. Moreover, crosslinking only takes place after the polymers have equilibrated in their mold. As such, the model is able to reflect the density, solvent quality, and the mold hydrophobicity that existed during the crosslinking of the polymers. Finally, such produced hydrogels are exposed to sinusoidal indenters. The simulations reveal a wavevector-dependent effective modulus E*(q) with the following properties: (i) stiffening under mechanical pressure, and a sensitivity of E*(q) on (ii) the degree of crosslinking at large wavelengths, (iii) the solvent quality, and (iv) the hydrophobicity of the mold in which the polymers were crosslinked. Finally, the simulations provide evidence that the elastic heterogeneity inherent to hydrogels can suffice to pin a compressed hydrogel to a microscopically frictionless wall that is undulated at a mesoscopic length scale. Although the model and simulations of this feasibility study are only two-dimensional, its generalization to three dimensions can be achieved in a straightforward fashion. © 2019 by the authors.eng
dc.description.versionpublishedVersioneng
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.34657/126
dc.identifier.urihttps://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/4855
dc.language.isoengeng
dc.publisherBasel : MDPIeng
dc.relation.doihttps://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants7040035
dc.rights.licenseCC BY 4.0 Unportedeng
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/eng
dc.subject.ddc620eng
dc.subject.otherContact mechanicseng
dc.subject.otherElastomerseng
dc.subject.otherHydrogelseng
dc.subject.otherSimulationeng
dc.titleModeling the contact mechanics of hydrogelseng
dc.typeArticleeng
dc.typeTexteng
tib.accessRightsopenAccesseng
wgl.contributorINMeng
wgl.subjectIngenieurwissenschafteneng
wgl.typeZeitschriftenartikeleng
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