Uniaxial compression constitutive equations for saturated hydrogel combined water-expelled behavior with environmental factors and the size effect

Abstract

For soft materials with high water content under compression loading, their water-expelled behavior leads to volume changes and should be considered in constitutive equations. In this study, uniaxial compression experiments are conducted for saturated hydrogels of different sizes in different environments. Furthermore, the constitutive equations of uniaxial compression combined water-expelled behavior considering environmental factors and the size effect were derived, which may describe the experimental results well and reveal the mechanism of the difference in mechanical behavior of hydrogels in different environments and different sizes. Our work has important reference value for characterizing the mechanical behavior of biological soft matter.

Keywords:

• Saturated hydrogel
• Constitutive equations
• Water-expelled behavior
• Volume changes
• Solution environment
• Size effect

Acknowledgements

We thank LetPub (www.letpub.com) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figure A.1. (a) The loading tables are affected by buoyancy in the solution; and (b) the force-deformation relationship during loading without the specimen.

Figure A.2. The stress-strain curves of d30h30 specimens under different water levels.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the [National Natural Science Foundation of China] under Grant [11932007, 11802062, 12072115, 11772134, 11772132, and 11772131]; and the [Guangdong Academy of Science “Thousand (Post-) Doctoral Programs” special item] under Grant [2019GDASYL-0103078]. The authors express their sincere gratitude for this support.

Notes on contributors

Yuting Zhang

Yuting Zhang and Yongrou Zhang performed the experiment and wrote the manuscript; Liqun Tang contributed significantly to the theoretical analysis; Zejia Liu, Zhenyu Jiang, Yiping Liu, and Licheng Zhou helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions; and Xuefeng Zhou contributed to writing the manuscript.

Yongrou Zhang

Yuting Zhang and Yongrou Zhang performed the experiment and wrote the manuscript; Liqun Tang contributed significantly to the theoretical analysis; Zejia Liu, Zhenyu Jiang, Yiping Liu, and Licheng Zhou helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions; and Xuefeng Zhou contributed to writing the manuscript.

Liqun Tang

Yuting Zhang and Yongrou Zhang performed the experiment and wrote the manuscript; Liqun Tang contributed significantly to the theoretical analysis; Zejia Liu, Zhenyu Jiang, Yiping Liu, and Licheng Zhou helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions; and Xuefeng Zhou contributed to writing the manuscript.

Zejia Liu

Yuting Zhang and Yongrou Zhang performed the experiment and wrote the manuscript; Liqun Tang contributed significantly to the theoretical analysis; Zejia Liu, Zhenyu Jiang, Yiping Liu, and Licheng Zhou helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions; and Xuefeng Zhou contributed to writing the manuscript.

Zhenyu Jiang

Yuting Zhang and Yongrou Zhang performed the experiment and wrote the manuscript; Liqun Tang contributed significantly to the theoretical analysis; Zejia Liu, Zhenyu Jiang, Yiping Liu, and Licheng Zhou helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions; and Xuefeng Zhou contributed to writing the manuscript.

Yiping Liu

Yuting Zhang and Yongrou Zhang performed the experiment and wrote the manuscript; Liqun Tang contributed significantly to the theoretical analysis; Zejia Liu, Zhenyu Jiang, Yiping Liu, and Licheng Zhou helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions; and Xuefeng Zhou contributed to writing the manuscript.

Licheng Zhou

Yuting Zhang and Yongrou Zhang performed the experiment and wrote the manuscript; Liqun Tang contributed significantly to the theoretical analysis; Zejia Liu, Zhenyu Jiang, Yiping Liu, and Licheng Zhou helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions; and Xuefeng Zhou contributed to writing the manuscript.

Xuefeng Zhou

Yuting Zhang and Yongrou Zhang performed the experiment and wrote the manuscript; Liqun Tang contributed significantly to the theoretical analysis; Zejia Liu, Zhenyu Jiang, Yiping Liu, and Licheng Zhou helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions; and Xuefeng Zhou contributed to writing the manuscript.