{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T12:12:33Z","timestamp":1791288753571,"version":"4.3.0"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,13]],"date-time":"2023-01-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1673568000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Research Foundation (NRF) of the Republic of Korea","award":["2022R1A2B5B02002097"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022R1A2B5B02002097"]}]},{"name":"National Research Foundation (NRF) of the Republic of Korea","award":["2022R1I1A1A01065504"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022R1I1A1A01065504"]}]},{"name":"National Research Foundation (NRF) of the Republic of Korea","award":["P0008746"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P0008746"]}]},{"name":"Basic Science Research Program through the NRF of the Republic of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education","award":["2022R1A2B5B02002097"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022R1A2B5B02002097"]}]},{"name":"Basic Science Research Program through the NRF of the Republic of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education","award":["2022R1I1A1A01065504"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022R1I1A1A01065504"]}]},{"name":"Basic Science Research Program through the NRF of the Republic of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education","award":["P0008746"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P0008746"]}]},{"name":"MOTIE (Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy) under the Fostering Global Talents for Innovative Growth Program","award":["2022R1A2B5B02002097"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022R1A2B5B02002097"]}]},{"name":"MOTIE (Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy) under the Fostering Global Talents for Innovative Growth Program","award":["2022R1I1A1A01065504"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022R1I1A1A01065504"]}]},{"name":"MOTIE (Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy) under the Fostering Global Talents for Innovative Growth Program","award":["P0008746"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P0008746"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Synthetic tough hydrogels have received attention because they could mimic the mechanical properties of natural hydrogels, such as muscle, ligament, tendon, and cartilage. Many recent studies suggest various approaches to enhance the mechanical properties of tough hydrogels. However, directly comparing each hydrogel property in different reports is challenging because various testing specimen shapes\/sizes were employed, affecting the experimental mechanical property values. This study demonstrates how the specimen geometry\u2014the lengths and width of the reduced section\u2014of a tough double-network hydrogel causes differences in experimental tensile mechanical values. In particular, the elastic modulus was systemically compared using eleven specimens of different shapes and sizes that were tensile tested, including a rectangle, ASTM D412-C and D412-D, JIS K6251-7, and seven customized dumbbell shapes with various lengths and widths of the reduced section. Unlike the rectangular specimen, which showed an inconsistent measurement of mechanical properties due to a local load concentration near the grip, dumbbell-shaped specimens exhibited a stable fracture at the reduced section. The dumbbell-shaped specimen with a shorter gauge length resulted in a smaller elastic modulus. Moreover, a relationship between the specimen dimension and measured elastic modulus value was derived, which allowed for the prediction of the experimental elastic modulus of dumbbell-shaped tough hydrogels with different dimensions. This study conveys a message that reminds the apparent experimental dependence of specimen geometry on the stress-strain measurement and the need to standardize the measurement of of numerous tough hydrogels for a fair comparison.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma16020785","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,13]],"date-time":"2023-01-13T02:57:33Z","timestamp":1673578653000},"page":"785","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Specimen Geometry Effect on Experimental Tensile Mechanical Properties of Tough Hydrogels"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2266-1654","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Donghwan","family":"Ji","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pilseon","family":"Im","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8448-2622","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sunmi","family":"Shin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore 117575, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4687-6732","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jaeyun","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences & Technology (SAIHST), Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Biomedical Institute for Convergence at SKKU (BICS), Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Institute of Quantum Biophysics (IQB), Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1155","DOI":"10.1002\/adma.200304907","article-title":"Double-Network Hydrogels with Extremely High Mechanical Strength","volume":"15","author":"Gong","year":"2003","journal-title":"Adv. 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