Transient Binding and Dissipation in Semi-flexible Polymer Networks
  While polymer solutions lack the mechanical stability only transiently cross-linked networks can fulfill the competing requirements of structural stability and maximal energy dissipation. Here, we show that transient cross-links entail local stress relaxation and energy dissipation in an intermediate elasticity dominated frequency regime. We quantify the mechanical response of a semi-flexible polymer network by experimentally tuning the off-rate of the transient cross-linker molecule and theoretically reproduce the measured frequency response by a model that is predicated on microscopic unbinding events. 
O. Lieleg, M.M.A.E. Claessens, Y. Luan and A.R. Bausch