Hydrophobically modified acrylamide-based hydrogels

A Model of the Fracture of Double Network Gels

“…One technique consists of forming gels using polymer chains that can themselves form intrachain and interchain hydrophobic associations. 8 This technique can increase the toughness by about a factor of 10 over the equivalent gel without hydrophobic association. It is believed that the extra energy is dissipated in pulling apart the hydrophobic associations in the highly strained regions close to the crack tip.…”

Cartilage Tissue Engineering: The Role of Extracellular Matrix (ECM) and Novel Strategies

“…Their particular properties come from their structure, composed of swollen randomly crosslinked networks of rod-like polymer chains with water filling the interstitial spaces. [151] Water commonly comprises more than 80% of the total volume. The physical properties of hydrogels are determined by the polymer composition and concentration, the cross-linking density between polymer chains [152], polymerization conditions [153], the addition of hydrophobic monomers which may create regions of more dense coiled or entangled chains, the introduction of composite materials such as rubber or glass, the use of cross-linking agents such as glutaraldehyde, and the use of freeze-thawing procedures to induce partial crystallinity [154].…”

Reliable Hydrogel with Mechanical “Fuse Link” in an Aqueous Environment

“…One of the reasonable devices to materialize fuse links is the hydrophobic modification of polymer networks . An association energy of hydrophobic interaction can be set within the range higher than the thermal fluctuation energy, but lower than dissociation energy of covalent bonds.…”