Acta Mechanica Sinica

, Volume 33, Issue 3, pp 543–554 | Cite as

Tough and tunable adhesion of hydrogels: experiments and models

  • Teng Zhang
  • Hyunwoo Yuk
  • Shaoting Lin
  • German A. Parada
  • Xuanhe Zhao
Research Paper
First Online:
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

As polymer networks infiltrated with water, hydrogels are major constituents of animal and plant bodies and have diverse engineering applications. While natural hydrogels can robustly adhere to other biological materials, such as bonding of tendons and cartilage on bones and adhesive plaques of mussels, it is challenging to achieve such tough adhesions between synthetic hydrogels and engineering materials. Recent experiments show that chemically anchoring long-chain polymer networks of tough synthetic hydrogels on solid surfaces create adhesions tougher than their natural counterparts, but the underlying mechanism has not been well understood. It is also challenging to tune systematically the adhesion of hydrogels on solids. Here, we provide a quantitative understanding of the mechanism for tough adhesions of hydrogels on solid materials via a combination of experiments, theory, and numerical simulations. Using a coupled cohesive-zone and Mullins-effect model validated by experiments, we reveal the interplays of intrinsic work of adhesion, interfacial strength, and energy dissipation in bulk hydrogels in order to achieve tough adhesions. We further show that hydrogel adhesion can be systematically tuned by tailoring the hydrogel geometry and silanization time of solid substrates, corresponding to the control of energy dissipation zone and intrinsic work of adhesion, respectively. The current work further provides a theoretical foundation for rational design of future biocompatible and underwater adhesives.

Keywords

Adhesion Hydrogels Soft materials Mullins effect 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Office Naval Research (Grant N00014-14-1-0528), Draper Laboratory, MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies and the National Science Foundation (Grant CMMI-1253495). Hyunwoo Yuk acknowledges the financial support from Samsung Scholarship. Xuanhe Zhao acknowledges the supports from the National Institutes Health (Grant UH3TR000505). The authors are also grateful for the support from MIT research computing resources and the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) (Grant TG-MSS160007).

Supplementary material

10409_2017_661_MOESM1_ESM.m4v (36.5 mb)
Supplementary material 1 (m4v 37391 KB)

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Copyright information

© The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Teng Zhang
    • 1
    • 2
  • Hyunwoo Yuk
    • 2
  • Shaoting Lin
    • 2
  • German A. Parada
    • 2
  • Xuanhe Zhao
    • 2
    • 3
  1. 1.Department of Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringSyracuse UniversitySyracuseUSA
  2. 2.Soft Active Materials Laboratory, Department of Mechanical EngineeringMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeUSA
  3. 3.Department of Civil and Environmental EngineeringMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeUSA

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