Easy Processable Photomechanical Thin Film Involving a Photochromic Diarylethene and a Thermoplastic Elastomer in Supramolecular Interaction.

A novel supramolecular photoactuator in the form of a thin film of centimetric size has been developed as an alternative to traditional liquid crystal elastomers (LCE) involving azobenzene (AZO) units or photochromic microcrystals. This thin film is produced through spin coating without the need for alignment or crosslinking. The photoactuator combines a photochromic dithienylethene (DTE) functionalized with ureidopyrimidinone (UPy) units, and a telechelic thermoplastic elastomer, also functionalized with UPy, allowing quadruple hydrogen bonding between the two components.

Mullins effect in polyethylene and its dependency on crystal content: A network alteration model.

This contribution is focused on the Mullins effect in polyethylene. An ultra-low-density polyethylene with 0.15 crystal content, a low-density polyethylene with 0.

A two-phase hyperelastic-viscoplastic constitutive model for semi-crystalline polymers: application to polyethylene materials with a variable range of crystal fractions.

Polyethylene-based polymers as biomedical materials can contribute to a wide range of biomechanical applications. Therefore, it is important to identify, analyse, and predict with precision their mechanical behaviour. Polyethylene materials are semi-crystalline systems consisting of both amorphous and crystalline phases interacting in a rather complex manner.

On cavitation and macroscopic behaviour of amorphous polymer-rubber blends.

The macroscopic behaviour of rubber-modified polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) was investigated by taking into account the microdeformation mechanisms of rubber cavitation. The dependence of the macroscopic stress-strain behaviour of matrix deformation on the cavitation of rubber particles was discussed. A phenomenological elastic-viscoplastic model was used to model the behaviour of the matrix material, while the rubber particles were modelled with the hyperelasticity theory.