Single-chain mechanics of cis-1,4-polyisoprene and polysulfide

Since the 1940s, several statistical models have been proposed to understand the complicated network of vulcanized natural rubber (NR) in a bottom-up way. The single-chain mechanics of the two main components of NR (cis-1,4-polyisoprene (PI) and polysulfide) is crucial to the statistical models. Due to the limitation of the experimental methods at that time, however, the measurement of single-chain mechanics cannot be realized before 1990s. Here in this study, single-molecule AFM is used to measure the single-chain mechanics of PI and polysulfide. It is expected that these experimental results can be used as the fundamental data to improve the statistical models of NR in the future.