Characterizing mechanical properties of polymeric material: A bottom-up approach

Abstract

Polymeric materials have received tremendous attention in both industrial and scientific communities, and can be readily found in applications across a large range of length scales, ranging from the nanoscale structures, such as the photoresist lithography in the micro-electro-mechanical systems, to the macroscale components, such as the adhesive bonding in the aerospace industry and civil infrastructures. The durability of these applications is mainly determined by the mechanical reliability of the constituent polymeric materials. In this chapter, a review of the bottom-up approach to investigate the mechanical properties of the polymeric materials is provided. A dynamic algorithm is developed to achieve the crosslinking process of the atomistic network, which possesses the mechanical properties in a good accordance with the experimental measurements. Meanwhile, the moisture effect on the mechanical properties is studied based on the atomistic model, and it is found that the mechanical properties of the solvated models show no significant deterioration. Furthermore, the predicted mechanical properties at the atomistic level are used to develop the cross-linked network at the mesoscale, which enables the investigation of the effect of the structural voids on the polymeric materials. The simulation results demonstrate the strong mechanical reliability of the synthetic polymeric materials during the long-term service life. The multiscale method summarized in this chapter provides a versatile tool to link the nano-level mechanical properties of the polymeric materials to the macro-level material behaviors.