Prof. Luciano Teresi

Models of gels

Session Outline

The schematic diagram of the network structure of gel, swelling when immersed into a solvent (from http://www.aip.nagoya-u.ac.jp)
The schematic diagram of the network structure of gel, swelling when immersed into a solvent (from http://www.aip.nagoya-u.ac.jp)

 Polymer gels are very soft elastic materials, and most living cells have a jelly-like nature.

From the mechanical point of view, gels are elastic materials swollen by a fluid: their elastic properties are inherited from the polymer network, while their swelling properties are related to the migration of the solvent through the network.

The striking feature of gels is their capability of exploiting chemical energy to produce mechanical work. In this short course we shall present the mechano-chemical model based of the Flory-Rehner energy, with emphasis on time evolutive processes.

 


Structural models gels parallel fibers
Fibered gels with different fibers arrangements (left) and swollen shapes (right)
Structural models gels crossed fibers
Fibered gels with crossed fibers (left) and swollen shapes (right)