Fig. 1: Simultaneously improving the fracture toughness, fatigue threshold, and stiffness for a single network hydrogel is a challenge. | Nature Communications

Fig. 1: Simultaneously improving the fracture toughness, fatigue threshold, and stiffness for a single network hydrogel is a challenge.

From: A strategy for tough and fatigue-resistant hydrogels via loose cross-linking and dense dehydration-induced entanglements

Fig. 1

a The relationships between fracture toughness, fatigue threshold, and stiffness of hydrogels. b PAAm hydrogels with various degrees of cross-linking and initial polymer contents. The hydrogel with a medium degree of cross-linking and medium initial polymer content is referred to as the regular hydrogel. c Compared with regular hydrogel, adjusting the degree of cross-linking and initial polymer content cannot achieve significant improvement in fracture toughness and modulus simultaneously. Data are presented as mean values +/- SD (n \(\ge\)3).

Back to article page