Mechanical Toughening and Acceleration of Stimulus Responsiveness of Soft Materials via Densely Packing of Microgels

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K19113
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 35:Polymers, organic materials, and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyoto Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Urayama Kenji 京都工芸繊維大学, 材料化学系, 教授 (20263147)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 鈴木 大介 信州大学, 学術研究院繊維学系, 准教授 (90547019)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 高分子ゲル / ゲル微粒子 / コンポジットゲル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Gel composites in which the microgels are densely packed are prepared. We confirmed the significant mechanical toughening via densely packing of microgels. The gel composites exhibit a volume change in response to temperature change which results from the thermo-responsiveness of the microgels. Characteristically, the gel composites do not form the hard skin layer in the initial stage of the shrinking process, while the corresponding bulk thermo-responsive gels do.

Free Research Field

高分子物性

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ゲル微粒子をゲルに内包させたコンポジットゲルは過去に報告されているが，その充填率は高々40%程度であった。本研究は，微粒子どうしの接触によって変形するほど超高密充填したコンポジットゲルを創成した。超高密充填により，既往研究では見られていなかった顕著な力学補強効果と温度応答性の特異性を見出した。