Issue 9, 2023

Microscopic strain mapping in polymers equipped with non-covalent mechanochromic motifs

Abstract

The mechanical failure of polymers remains challenging to understand and predict, as it often involves highly localised phenomena that cannot be probed with bulk characterisation techniques. Here, we present a generalisable protocol based on optical microscopy, tensile testing, and image processing that permits the spatially resolved interrogation of mechanical deformation at the molecular level around defects in mechanophore-containing polymers. The approach can be applied to a broad range of polymeric materials, mechanophores, and deformation scenarios.

Graphical abstract: Microscopic strain mapping in polymers equipped with non-covalent mechanochromic motifs

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
28 apr 2023
Accepted
14 jun 2023
First published
14 jun 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Mater. Horiz., 2023,10, 3467-3475

Microscopic strain mapping in polymers equipped with non-covalent mechanochromic motifs

H. Traeger, D. Kiebala, C. Calvino, Y. Sagara, S. Schrettl, C. Weder and J. M. Clough, Mater. Horiz., 2023, 10, 3467 DOI: 10.1039/D3MH00650F

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