Learning from nature: synthesis and characterization of longitudinal polymer gradient materials inspired by mussel
Kai U Claussen1, Reiner Giesa, Thomas Scheibel
1Department of Macromolecular Chemistry I, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
Abstract:
Marine mussels use their threads for attachment to any substratum and these biopolymer gradient fibers show an excellent combination of stiff and soft mechanical properties. A straightforward approach for the preparation of macroscopic longitudinal polymer gradient materials on the centimeter scale based on a poly(dimethyl siloxane) system is presented. Compositional gradients are realized by using three syringe pumps feeding different prepolymers capable to undergo thermal cross-linking. Within the gradient samples, the stiffness between the hard and soft part can be varied up to a factor of four. The gradients are analyzed by UV-Vis spectroscopy as well as compressive and tensile modulus testing.
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