  Force-driven chemical reactions have emerged as an attractive platform for
diverse applications in polymeric materials. However, the network topologies
necessary for efficiently transducing macroscopic forces to the molecular scale
are not well-understood. In this work, we use coarse-grained molecular dynamics
simulations to investigate the impact of network topology on mechanochemical
activation in a self-assembled triblock copolymers. We find that
mechanochemical activation during tensile deformation depends strongly on both
the polymer composition and chain conformation in these materials, with
activation requiring higher stress in materials with a higher glassy block
content, and most activation occurring in the tie chains connecting different
glassy domains. Our work suggests that changes in the network topology
significantly impact mechanochemical activation efficiencies in these
materials, suggesting that this area will be a fruitful avenue for further
experimental research.
