Deformation of Hybrid Networks*

Mimicking the mechanical properties of soft materials and biological tissues is crucial for novel materials development for medical implants, tissue engineering, soft robotics, and wearable electronics. Bottlebrush and comb networks are shown to be able to replicate the required combination of softness, strength and toughness in solvent-free elastomers. Such networks are made by crosslinking the side chains which results in the formation of the hybrid networks which have two types of strands of different rigidity and extensibility. We use a combination of analytical calculations and coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of hybrid network deformation to establish universal features. In our approach we first study an idealized system which preserves the network topology and represents the difference in the strands’ bending rigidities by considering the network strands as linear polymer chains with different Kuhn lengths and degrees of polymerization. The developed model is used to describe deformation of bottlebrush and comb networks in the linear and nonlinear network deformation regimes.