“Stress-Free” Molecular Design

Problem/Societal Impact Statement:

Stress commonly accumulates at material interfaces. The accumulation of interfacial stress can be disastrous for the mechanical stability of coated materials and can limit their use in a variety of applications.

Approach to Problem:

To combat these residual interfacial stresses, I actively design dynamic materials that eliminate stress by bond exchange. Light-initiated addition-fragmentation-chain transfer (AFT) offers a promising way to induce controlled bond exchange and therefore offers a way to control stress.

Progress So Far:

We have demonstrated that our synthetic approach to fabricating AFT materials is successful and that our materials can relax stress with light exposure!

Favorite Moment:

My favorite moment with this project so far was when I conducted a curing experiment on the AFT material, and I demonstrated that this sample completely relaxed all of the shrinkage stress with one UV exposure.

Lead student:

Autumn Mineo

Related publication (s):

A.M. Mineo, M.E. Buck, and R. Katsumata*, “Molecular Design of Polymer Coatings Capable of Photo-triggered Stress Relaxation via Dynamic Covalent Bond Exchange,” J. Polym. Sci, in press. [DOI]

R. Katsumata, S. Ata, K. Kuboyama, and T. Ougizawa*, “Evaporation rate effect on starting point of shrinkage stress development during drying process in solvent cast polymer film,” J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 128, 60–65 (2013). [DOI]