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Spherulitic networks : from structure to rheological property
journal contribution
posted on 2009-04-01, 00:00 authored by J Shi, X Liu, Jingliang LiJingliang Li, C Strom, H XuA finite element method based on ABAQUS is employed to examine the correlation between the microstructure and the elastic response of planar Cayley treelike fiber networks. It is found that the elastic modulus of the fiber network decreases drastically with the fiber length, following the power law. The power law of elastic modulus G′ vs the correlation length ξ obtained from this simulation has an exponent of −1.71, which is close to the exponent of −1.5 for a single-domain network of agar gels. On the other hand, the experimental results from multidomain networks give rise to a power law index of −0.49. The difference between −1.5 and −0.49 can be attributed to the multidomain structure, which weakens the structure of the overall system and therefore suppresses the increase in G′. In addition, when the aspect ratio of the fiber is smaller than 20, the radius of the fiber cross-section has a great impact on the network elasticity, while, when the aspect ratio is larger than 20, it has almost no effect on the elastic property of the network. The stress distribution in the network is uniform due to the symmetrical network structure. This study provides a general understanding of the correlation between microscopic structure and the macroscopic properties of soft functional materials.
History
Journal
The journal of physical chemistry bVolume
113Issue
14Pagination
4549 - 4554Publisher
American Chemical SocietyLocation
Washington, D.C.Publisher DOI
ISSN
1520-6106eISSN
1520-5207Language
engPublication classification
C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2009, American Chemical SocietyUsage metrics
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