2022/09/28 by Yiwei Gao, Gao, Yiwei, H. Jeremy Cho +1
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · Materials Science · #Hydrogels: synthesis, properties, applications #Blood properties and coagulation #Polymer Surface Interaction Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2209.14382
Hydrogels have a distinct combination of mechanical and water-transport behaviors. As hydrogels stiffen, they become less permeable. Here, we combine semi-dilute polymer theory with the Kozeny-Carman equation to develop a simple scaling law describing the relationship between hydraulic permeability and mechanical stiffness. We find that these properties are dictated by the polymer strand spacing, explained via analogy of a bowl of noodle soup. We find a remarkably close agreement between our scaling law and experimental results across four different polymer families with varied crosslinkings.