New MONET Publication in J. Mech. Phys. Solids

A team from the Craig, Olsen, and Rubinstein labs, in collaboration with others at MIT, systematically study the fracture mechanics of polymer-like networks with hybrid bond strengths to reveal that varying the ratio of strong and weak strands within otherwise identical networks gives a non-monotonic relationship between intrinsic fracture energy and strong strand fraction.   The interplay between concentration and clustering of strand types in networks with hybrid bond strengths, combined with crack growth phenomena and nonlocal energy release, provides insights into unusual fracture characteristics in polymer networks and percolated lattices.

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