| Summary: | Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015. === Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. === Includes bibliographical references (page 45). === Certain cross-liked polymer networks can absorb solvents and swell far beyond their initial volume, a useful property which may be exploited in a variety of applications. In this thesis, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) samples were swollen in pentane in order to experimentally characterize the transient and steady-state swelling behavior of this system, and to extract material properties in order to fully characterize a coupled deformation-diffusion theory. Free swelling experiments, transient swelling force measurements, and an analysis of the swollen geometry of a PDMS bilayer strip were performed, and compared to numerical simulations. The experimental results and numerical simulations were shown to be in good agreement. === by Sterling Watson. === S.B.
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