GEL DA KE RIƘE KILO ƊAYA

Sarƙar polymer ɗaya, da aka ja daga ƙarshenta biyu, da farko tana kwancewa, sannan ta yi tauri sosai yayin da take miƙewa, kuma a ƙarshe ta karya wani ƙaƙƙarfan haɗin covalent. Duk da haka raga (network) da aka yi da irin waɗannan sarƙoƙi — gel ko roba — tana da rauni da ninki masu yawa fiye da sarƙa ɗaya. Kwaikwayon kwamfuta na kwanan nan, da takardar ta ambata, sun nuna dalili: idan aka ja raga, ana raba jan ba daidai ba sosai. Wasu ’yan hanyoyi masu jan-ƙarfi suna samuwa kuma suna karyewa ɗaya bayan ɗaya, yayin da galibin zaruruwa ke ci gaba da naɗewa ba tare da ɗaukar nauyi mai yawa ba.

Yu Zhou, Chenghai Li, Zheqi Chen, Xianyang Bao da Zhigang Suo a Jami’ar Harvard sun ɗora laifin a kan cross-links, mahaɗan da ke ɗaure zaruruwa tare. Kowane cross-link yana haɗa zaruruwa huɗu, amma biyu kawai daga cikinsu ke ɗaukar babban jan. Cross-links suna tara nauyin wuri ɗaya.

Ƙarancin ƙulli, ƙarin dunƙulewa

Maganinsu shi ne watsa jan. Da ƙarancin cross-links sosai, zaruruwa suna zama dogaye kuma masu dunƙulewa (entangled). Marubutan suna hasashen nauyin da “silinda masu jan-ƙarfi” ke ɗauka — dukkan tarin zaruruwa masu dunƙulewa. Saboda ƙarfin tsakanin zaruruwa yana da rauni, dunƙulen suna zamewa kamar kura: idan dunƙule ya haɗa sassa huɗu, dukkan huɗun suna ɗaukar nauyin. Dogayen zaruruwa suna ɗaukar ƙarin raga.

Sun gwada wannan a kan hydrogel na polyacrylamide, abubuwa masu laushi da galibi aka yi da ruwa, da aka kumbura har zuwa daidaito kafin kowane gwaji, kamar yadda za su kasance a lokacin amfani. Maɓallai biyu ne ke tsara ragar: adadin cross-linker da adadin ruwa lokacin haɗawa.

• Ƙarfin da aka auna ga kowace raka’a ta polymer — “ingantaccen ƙarfi” (effective strength) na marubutan — ya ƙaru yayin da cross-links suka ƙara ƙaranci, bisa wata doka mai sauƙi: yana girma kamar juyayyen adadin cross-linker, ya kai kusan megapascal 100.
• Canza adadin ruwa, don haka na dunƙulewa, ya canza shi da ƙasa da ninki biyu. Cross-links suna tara jan; dunƙulewa ba sa yi.

Kumbura, matse, maimaita

Don mayar da wannan zuwa abu mai ƙarfi, tawagar ta gina ragar haɗe-haɗe da aka ja a gaba (prestretched interlocking networks). Ana jiƙa gel mai ƙarancin cross-link a cikin wannan cakuɗen farko, a matse shi ya yi shimfiɗa ta yadda zai miƙe a gefe, sannan a bijirar da shi ga hasken ultraviolet: wata raga ta biyu tana samuwa a cikin ta farko kuma tana kulle ta a yanayinta na miƙewa. Yin hakan sau ɗaya kuma yana ba da raga uku.

Hydrogel uku na polyacrylamide: na yau da kullum, mai dunƙulewa sosai da mai ragar haɗe-haɗe da aka ja a gaba. Na yau da kullum yana riƙe kusan g 10; wanda aka ja a gaba yana riƙe g 1,000. — Figure 3, Zhou, Li, Chen, Bao & Suo (2026), arXiv:2610.11837, CC BY 4.0.

• Ƙarfi yana hawa daga kusan megapascal 0.05 ga hydrogel na yau da kullum zuwa kusan 1 ga mai dunƙulewa sosai da kusan 10 ga ragar uku.
• Gel mai raga uku yana riƙe nauyi da ya fi na gel na yau da kullum nauyi kusan ninki ɗari.
• Yana ci gaba da zama mai roba: kashi 8.4% kawai na ƙarfin ke ɓacewa a zagaye na ja-da-saki.
• A iyakar sanin marubutan, shi ne hydrogel na polyacrylamide mafi ƙarfi da aka ba da rahoto.

Girke-girken yana kuma aiki ba tare da ruwa ba. A cikin wani abu irin na roba ba tare da ruwa ba, wani elastomer da ake kira poly(ethyl acrylate), ƙarfi ya hau daga kusan megapascal 1 zuwa 4 da ƙarancin cross-links, kuma zuwa kusan megapascal 25 bayan ja a gaba, da asarar ƙarfi ta ’yan kashi kaɗan kawai.

Har yanzu kashi 1% na zaruruwa kawai

Ko megapascal 100 yana ƙasa sosai da kusan gigapascal 10 da haɗin covalent ke iya jurewa. Bisa ƙiyasin marubutan, kusan kashi 1% na zaruruwa ne kawai ke kaiwa wannan iyaka; sauran har yanzu suna ɗaukar ƙasa da haka sosai. Yadda za a sa sauran kashi 99% su shiga aiki, in ji su, tambaya ce da ba a amsa ba wadda za ta iya buƙatar sababbin tsare-tsaren raga gaba ɗaya.