Mechanical Performance of Polymer Networks, Gels and Elastomers 1

Presentations

• Reprocessable Polymer Network Formation and Deconstruction using Light-Responsive Star Polymers

  Invited-In-person · Invited

  March 16, 2026, 12:00 PM – March 16, 2026, 12:36 PM

  Publication: M. C. Burroughs, E. L. Quirk, B. M. Wirtz, T. H. Schloemer, D. N. Congreve, D. J. Mai. Light-Responsive Star Polymers for Reprocessable Network Formation and Deconstruction. Macromolecules, 58(12), 6066–6076 (2025).
  E. L. Quirk, M. C. Burroughs, D. J. Mai. In situ Photo-rheology Monitors Viscoelastic Changes in Photo-responsive Polymer Networks. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 220, e68394 (2025).
  M. C. Burroughs, T. H. Schloemer, D. N. Congreve, D. J. Mai. Gelation dynamics during photocrosslinking of polymer nanocomposite hydrogels. ACS Polymers Au, 3(2), 217–227, (2023).

  Presenters

  • Danielle Mai

    • Stanford University

  Authors

  • Danielle Mai

    • Stanford University

  • Michael Burroughs

    • Stanford University

  • Eleanor Quirk

    • Stanford University

  • Brendan Wirtz

    • Stanford University

  • Tracy Schloemer

  • Daniel Congreve

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• From Free Energies to Phase Diagrams of Compressible Microgels

  Oral-In-person

  March 16, 2026, 12:36 PM – March 16, 2026, 12:48 PM

  Presenters

  • Oreoluwa Alade

    • North Dakota State University

  Authors

  • Oreoluwa Alade

    • North Dakota State University

  • Alan Denton

    • North Dakota State University

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• Elucidating the impact of density, alignment, and moisture content on the mechanical properties of cellulose nano-assemblies using multiscale molecular dynamics simulations

  Oral-In-person

  March 16, 2026, 12:48 PM – March 16, 2026, 1:00 PM

  Presenters

  • Meagan Crowley

    • Colorado School of Mines

  Authors

  • Meagan Crowley

    • Colorado School of Mines

  • Peter Ciesielksi

  • Alexander Pak

  • Lintao Bu

  • Vivek Bharadwaj

  • Michael Crowley

  • Shubham Vyas

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• Molecular Dynamics Investigation of Network Connectivity and Hydration Effects on the Elastic Behavior of Crosslinked Poly(aminoamide) Networks

  Oral-In-person

  March 16, 2026, 1:00 PM – March 16, 2026, 1:12 PM

  Presenters

  • Muthutantrige Fernando

    • THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON

  Authors

  • Muthutantrige Fernando

    • THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON

  • James Eagan

  • Mesfin Tsige

    • University of Akron

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• Pulling knotted polymer rings and concatenated knotted polymer rings in order to understand the effects of entanglement on the mechanical properties of polymer materials

  Oral-In-person

  March 16, 2026, 1:12 PM – March 16, 2026, 1:24 PM

  Publication: [1] Y. Zhao and F. Ferrari, Topological effects on the mechanical properties of polymer knots, Physica A 486 (2017), 44.

  Presenters

  • Franco Ferrari

    • University of Szczecin

  Authors

  • Franco Ferrari

    • University of Szczecin

  • Marcin Piatek

  • Luca Tubiana

    • University of Trento

  • Neda Abbasi Taklimi

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• Leveraging polymer architecture to build multi-materials with extreme stiffness contrast

  Oral-In-person

  March 16, 2026, 1:24 PM – March 16, 2026, 1:36 PM

  Presenters

  • Divya Iyer

    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  Authors

  • Divya Iyer

    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Nadia Chapple

  • Ikeoluwa Apata

  • Juan Manuel Urueña

  • Adarsh Krishnamurthy

    • Iowa State University

  • Baskar Ganapathysubramanian

    • Iowa State University

  • Craig Hawker

  • Angela Pitenis

    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Michael Chabinyc

    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Christopher Bates

    • University of California, Santa Barbara

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• Low-Strain Reinforcement as a Volume-Expansion Effect in Filled Elastomers with Glassy Interphases

  Oral-In-person

  March 16, 2026, 1:36 PM – March 16, 2026, 1:48 PM

  Publication: Pierre Kawak and Harshad Bhapkar and David S. Simmons. Glassy interphases reinforce elastomeric nanocomposites by enhancing percolation-driven volume expansion under strain. ArXiV 2025. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.04755
  Pierre Kawak and Harshad Bhapkar and David S. Simmons. On the origin of heating-induced softening and enthalpic reinforcement in elastomeric nanocomposites. ArXiV 2025. https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.06971
  Pierre Kawak and Harshad Bhapkar and David S. Simmons. Central Role of Filler–Polymer Interplay in Nonlinear Reinforcement of Elastomeric Nanocomposites. Macromolecules 2024, 57, 19, 9466–9475. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.macromol.4c00489

  Presenters

  • Pierre Kawak

    • University of South Florida

  Authors

  • Pierre Kawak

    • University of South Florida

  • Harshad Bhapkar

    • University of South Florida

  • David Simmons

    • University of South Florida

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• Highly Entangled Bottlebrush Polymer Networks

  Oral-In-person

  March 16, 2026, 1:48 PM – March 16, 2026, 2:00 PM

  Presenters

  • Myoeum Kim

    • University of Virginia

  Authors

  • Myoeum Kim

    • University of Virginia

  • Baiqiang Huang

    • University of Virginia

  • Shiwang Cheng

    • Michigan State University

  • Li-Heng Cai

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• Decoupling Softness and Damping in Brush Elastomers for Tissue-Mimetic Mechanics

  Oral-In-person

  March 16, 2026, 2:00 PM – March 16, 2026, 2:12 PM

  Presenters

  • Sergei Sheiko

    • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  Authors

  • Sergei Sheiko

    • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  • Emilie Moses

    • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  • Claire Wang

    • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  • Joseph Collins

  • Andrey Dobrynin

    • University of North Carolina

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• Interfacial Water Sorption Behavior in Hygrothermally Aged Epoxy Resins

  Oral-In-person

  March 16, 2026, 2:12 PM – March 16, 2026, 2:24 PM

  Presenters

  • Ko Yamaguchi

    • Kyushu University

  Authors

  • Ko Yamaguchi

    • Kyushu University

  • Daisuke Kawaguchi

    • Univ of Tokyo

  • Atsuomi Shundo

  • Satoru Yamamoto

  • Tatsuki Abe

    • Kyushu university

  • Yuma Morimitsu

    • Kyushu University

  • Noboru Miyata

  • Tsukasa Miyazaki

  • Hiroyuki Aoki

    • Japan Atomic Energy Agency

  • Keiji Tanaka

    • Kyushu University

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• The Influence of Thiol-Ene Mechanism on Polymer Network Topology

  Oral-In-person

  March 16, 2026, 2:24 PM – March 16, 2026, 2:36 PM

  Publication: The manuscript has been submitted to ACS Macromolecules, under the title "The Influence of Thiol-Ene Mechanism on Polymer Network Topology". It is currently under review.

  Presenters

  • Brandon Jeong

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  Authors

  • Brandon Jeong

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Rithwik Ghanta

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Alexa Kuenstler

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Antonia Statt

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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• Molecular modeling of swelling and chain retention in temperature-sensitive composite hydrogels

  Oral-In-person

  March 16, 2026, 2:36 PM – March 16, 2026, 2:48 PM

  Presenters

  • Boran Ma

    • University of Southern Mississippi

  Authors

  • Boran Ma

    • University of Southern Mississippi

  • Alexander Rosario

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• Transient network structure and dynamics in HEUR/oil mixed aqueous solutions

  Oral-In-person

  March 16, 2026, 2:48 PM – March 16, 2026, 3:00 PM

  Presenters

  • Ryoko Shimada

    • Japan Women's University-Facul Sci

  Authors

  • Ryoko Shimada

    • Japan Women's University-Facul Sci

  • Hiroshi Watanabe

    • Kyoto Univ

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