Tech Spotlight: Stress Relaxation in Crosslinked Polymers

Internal stress buildup during polymerization of a crosslinked network is a typical result of polymerization shrinkage. This stress may decrease the ultimate mechanical properties of the polymer and/or limit its applications. For example, in optical materials internal stress may introduce unwanted birefringence, and in dental materials result in unwanted shrinkage.

A University of Colorado research group led by Christopher Bowman and Timothy Scott have developed a solution to this problem in which internal stress is relieved through reversible cleavage of the polymer backbone, accomplished by incorporating “reversible chain cleavage” groups into the polymer backbone. This solution is applicable to a variety of polymeric materials, including polymeric coatings, fiber reinforced materials and optical materials, and eliminates shrinkage stress in dental materials and reinforced composites.

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