Mechanics of Biomacromolecular Networks Containing Folded Domains

The force-extension behavior of single modular biomacromolecules is known to exhibit a characteristic repeating pattern of a nonlinear rise in force with imposed displacement to a peak, followed by a significant force drop upon reaching the peak. This “saw-tooth” pattern is a result of stretch-induced unfolding of modules along the molecular chain and is speculated to play a governing role in the function of biological materials and structures. In this paper, constitutive models for the large strain deformation of networks of modular macromolecules are developed building directly from statistical mechanics based models of the single molecule force-extension behavior. The proposed two-dimensional network model has applicability to biological membrane skeletons and the three-dimensional network model emulates cytoskeletal networks, natural fibers, and soft biological tissues. Simulations of the uniaxial and multiaxial stress-strain behavior of these networks illustrate the macroscopic membrane and solid stretching conditions which activate unfolding in these microstructures. The models simultaneously track the evolution in underlying microstructural features with different macroscopic stretching conditions, including the evolution in molecular orientation and the forces acting on the constituent molecular chains and junctions. The effect of network pretension on the stress-strain behavior and the macroscopic stress and strain conditions which trigger unfolding are presented. The implications of the predicted stress-strain behaviors on a variety of biological materials are discussed.