J044031 Development of a Novel Method to Observe the Surface Friction of Gel Engineering Materials : Toward the electric-field Control of the Surface Friction of Gels

Abstract

In the last decade, several innovative ways to enhance the mechanical properties of polymer gels have been proposed. In 2003, the most effective but simple way was proposed to synthesize double network gels, whose compression fracture stress reached about 30MPa, while that of common gels is several tens kPa. Our group has focused on PAMPS-PDMAAm DN gel, because it possibly has both biocompatibility and permeability, which are good for developing artificial articular cartilage and artificial blood vessel. Also it is possibly used for rapid additive manufacturing with 3D gel printer. Here we develop a novel appratus to observe the surface friction of the DN gels. We hope to apply this appartus for various studies about the tribological behavior of the gels, especially about the effect of external electric field on the gel friction.