Elasticity of sparsely cross-linked random fibre networks

The elastic modulus of two-dimensional random fibre networks is determined for structures in which, the degree of cross-linking is varied. The relationship between the network parameters – fibre axial and bending stiffness, fibre density and degree of cross-linking – and the overall elastic modulus is discussed and presented in terms of a master curve. It is shown that master curves for sparsely cross-linked networks with various degrees of cross-linking can be collapsed to a unique curve, which is also valid in case of fully cross-linked network.