Abstract
We investigate the behavior of transient self-assembled and permanently crosslinked gels subjected to extreme mechanical stresses. On the one hand, we study the dynamics of freely expanding sheets produced by impacting a (Newtonian or viscoelastic) liquid drop or a bead of polymeric gel on solid surfaces in minimal dissipation conditions, achieved using either a small solid target or a repellent surface. Upon impact, the drop or bead is transformed into a thin sheet that expands and retracts due to elasticity. For viscoelastic fluids with a relaxation time smaller than the typical lifetime of the sheet, the dynamics of the viscoelastic sheet is similar to that of Newtonian liquids with equal viscosity. The maximal expansion of the sheet decreases with the viscosity and is quantitatively modeled using an energy balance between inertia, surface tension and viscous shear dissipation on the solid target that can be accounted by measuring an effective velocity of the expanding sheet at short time scale. We further show that the shear dissipation can be substantially eliminated by performing impact experiments on a solid surface based on an inverse Leidenfrost effect. Experiments performed using elastic beads of various elastic moduli, viscoelastic or liquid drops of various surface tensions reveal a universal scaling behavior of the maximum expansion with the impact velocity, with a dynamics that mimics that of a conventional spring-mass system. We furthermore show that, for drops impacting a solid target, a similar scaling holds once the viscous dissipation is accounted by replacing the impact velocity with the effective velocity. Another fascinating behavior of viscoelastic fluids is a heterogeneous expansion of the sheet with the occurrence of cracks, revealing the elastic nature of the viscoelastic fluid. On the other hand, we study the uniaxial deformation and the fracture of reversible double transient networks by coupling extensional rheology to fast imaging. We provide a state diagram that delineates the regime of fracture without necking of the filament, when it is stretched at a rate larger than the inverse of the slowest relaxation time of the networks. We quantitatively demonstrate that dissipation processes are not relevant in our experimental conditions and that, depending on the density of nodes in the networks, fracture occurs in the linear elastic regime, or in a non-linear elastic regime preceded by a considerable strain hardening. In addition, analysis of the crack opening profiles indicates, for weakly connected networks, deviations from a parabolic shape close to the crack tip, which is expected for the linear elasticity of a brittle fracture. We demonstrate a direct correlation between the amplitude of the deviation from the parabolic shape and the amount of non-linear elasticity.