Patent ID: 8227551

Claim:
A polymeric composition comprising: a first crosslinked network; and a second crosslinked network; the first crosslinked network and the second crosslinked network being in operative communication with one another; wherein the first crosslinked network is crosslinked at a first stress and/or a first strain and the second crosslinked network is crosslinked at a second stress and/or a second strain; where the first stress and/or the first strain is different from the second stress and/or the second strain either in magnitude or direction; and further wherein either the first crosslinked network or the second crosslinked network has physical crosslinks, where the polymeric composition has an elastic modulus that is at least up to 50% less than a comparative polymeric composition at tensile strains of less than or equal to about 50%, an elastic modulus that is at least 250% greater than a comparative polymeric composition at tensile strains of greater than 50% and a linear coefficient of thermal expansion that is at least about 50% to about 100% lower than the comparative polymeric composition, where the comparative polymeric composition has the same chemical composition as the polymeric composition and has substantially the same crosslink density, except that the crosslinking in the comparative polymeric composition was conducted without application of any stress or strain.