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Siloxane Molecules: Nonlinear Elastic Behavior and Fracture Characteristics

Cornell Affiliated Author(s)

Author

T. Li
E.R. Dufresne
M. Kröger
S. Heyden

Abstract

Fracture phenomena in soft materials span multiple length and time scales. This poses a major challenge in computational modeling and predictive materials design. To pass quantitatively from molecular to continuum scales, a precise representation of the material response at the molecular level is vital. Here, we derive the nonlinear elastic response and fracture characteristics of individual siloxane molecules using molecular dynamics (MD) studies. For short chains, we find deviations from classical scalings for both the effective stiffness and mean chain rupture times. A simple model of a nonuniform chain of Kuhn segments captures the observed effect and agrees well with MD data. We find that the dominating fracture mechanism depends on the applied force scale in a nonmonotonic fashion. This analysis suggests that common polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) networks fail at cross-linking points. Our results can be readily lumped into coarse-grained models. Although focusing on PDMS as a model system, our study presents a general procedure to pass beyond the window of accessible rupture times in MD studies employing mean first passage time theory, which can be exploited for arbitrary molecular systems. © 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.

Date Published

Journal

Macromolecules

Volume

56

Issue

4

Number of Pages

1303-1310,

ISBN Number

00249297 (ISSN)

URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85147951451&doi=10.1021%2facs.macromol.2c02576&partnerID=40&md5=9c9eedbdaf2602ce372021c4ea2ee3be

DOI

10.1021/acs.macromol.2c02576

Alternate Journal

Macromolecules

Group (Lab)

Eric Dufresne Group

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