Connecting polymer network fracture to molecular-level chain scission remains a quandary.
While the Lake-Thomas model predicts the intrinsic fracture energy of a polymer network is …

In this work, we have found that a prenotched double-network (DN) hydrogel, when
subjected to tensile loading in a pure-shear geometry, exhibits intriguing stick–slip crack …

The fracture toughness of inelastic materials consists of an intrinsic component associated
with the crack tip fracture process and a dissipative component due to bulk dissipation …

Brittle solids typically fail by growth and propagation of a crack from a surface flaw. This
process is modelled using linear elastic fracture mechanics, which parameterizes the …

This paper presents a new framework for investigating the impact of heterogeneity levels on
the fracture properties of hydrogels, offering guidelines for the application of heterogeneous …

Background Obtaining accurate displacement measurements for large material deformation
and/or rotation presents a distinct challenge to digital image correlation (DIC) due to …

In fracture mechanics, polyacrylamide hydrogel has been widely used as a model material
in experiments due to its optical transparency, the brittle nature of its failure, and low …

Besides stiffness and strength, the resistance to fracture is one of the crucial mechanical
properties of architected materials, which can be controlled by their structural design. We …

Soft adhesion has been rapidly studied and developed for various applications in recent
years. Compared to existing toughening mechanisms based on the adherend or adhesive …

Elastomeric materials display a complicated set of stretchability and fracture properties that
strongly depend on the flaw size, which has long been of interest to engineers and material …