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Gels have unique properties such as low frictional properties, permeability and biocompatibility due to their high water content. In the last decade, several high-strength gels have been developed, which are promising for extending the application of gels as industrial materials. Previously we proposed novel ultrahigh ductile gels by defining inter-crosslinking network (ICN) structure. In this study, the mechanical properties of ICN gel was studied by experiments and theoretical estimations, and the mesh size of the internal network structure were determined. It is found that the Young's modulus of ICN gels calculated by experiments well matches with the theoretical estimations. The appropriate ICN gels achieves more than 61% increase in the ductility in comparison with normal poly(N, N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMAAm) gels, by introducing the ICN structure. For the ICN gels, the density of chains calculated from the mesh-size is well consistent with the other densities calculated from the modulus and the water content, in comparison with the PDMAAm gels.

Hydrogels have low frictional properties, permeability and biocompatibility thanks to their high water content. However the problem of common gels is their brittleness as industrial materials. In the last decade, several high-strength gels have been developed, promising for applications of gels as new smart industrial materials. Here we study the smartness of novel ultrahigh ductile gels having Inter-Crosslinking Network (ICN), focusing on mechanical properties and structure. Three types of mesh densities of the ICN gels were experimentally determined from the size of internal structure, water content and Young's modulus of tensile test. By comparing the three mesh densities, the relation between the network structure and mechanical properties of the gels is possibly discussed. The new way to evaluate the ductility of the ICN gels was also introduced on the analogy of the small-world network model. The effect of the degree of polymerization on the ductility was discussed.

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