Figure 2.
Self-healing behavior of the hydrogel formed from 15 w% P8(20)-AA and 100 mM CaCl2. (a) The gel was formed into a cylinder, cut in two pieces (left), fused together (center) and stretched without fracture (right). The pieces were stained with dyes of different color to improve visualization of the healing process. (b) Failure-recovery tests where gel failure was induced by an increase in strain from 5 to 1000%. The recovery of the storage modulus for each cycle is shown in the picture. Measurements were performed at 20°C and a constant angular frequency of 10 rad/s.