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Updated: Oct 31, 2025

Covalent Immobilization of Proteins for the Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy
Published on: August 20, 2018
Force-dependent bond dissociation explains the rate-dependent fracture of vitrimers
Zhaoqiang Song1, Tong Shen2, Franck J Vernerey3
1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. shqcai@ucsd.edu.
Abstract:
We investigate the rate-dependent fracture of vitrimers by conducting a tear test. Based on the relationship between the fracture energy and the thickness of vitrimer films, we, for the first time, obtain the intrinsic fracture energy and bulk dissipation of vitrimers during crack extension. The intrinsic fracture energy strongly depends on tear speed, and such dependence can be well explained by Eyring theory. In contrast, the bulk dissipation only weakly depends on tear speed, which is drastically different from observations on traditional viscoelastic polymers. We ascribe such a weak rate-dependence to the strong force-sensitivity of the exchange reaction of the dynamic covalent bond in the vitrimer.
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