Multiple Stages of Crosslinking and Scission in Coarse-Grained Polymers

Coarse-grained polymer chains were crosslinked, deformed, crosslinked a second time, and deformed again with stress measured at each deformation. Scissioning of crosslinks occurred at various deformations. By varying the level of scissioning and crosslinking at the deformation states, information is gathered about effective crosslink density that includes contributions from physical entanglements.