Premium
Swelling and mechanical properties of crosslinked hydrogels containing N ‐vinylpyrrolidone
Author(s) -
Perera Don I.,
Shanks Robert A.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
polymer international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-0126
pISSN - 0959-8103
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0126(199602)39:2<121::aid-pi477>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , swelling , ethylene glycol dimethacrylate , n vinylpyrrolidone , polymer chemistry , polymer , methacrylate , copolymer , materials science , polymerization , methyl methacrylate , chemical engineering , ethylene glycol , radical polymerization , composite material , methacrylic acid , engineering
Copolymers of 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate/ N ‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone (HEMA/NVP) and methyl methacrylate (MMA)/NVP were prepared in the presence of varying amounts of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) and methylene diacrylamide (MDA) as crosslinkers by photopolymerisation. The resultant solid polymers were swollen to equilibrium in water at 293 K to produce hydrogels. These hydrogels were characterised by soluble fraction and equilibrium water content. The gels were also characterised by compression—strain measurements, which enabled the calculation of Young's modulus and effective crosslink density. The differences in these properties of HEMA/NVP and MMA/NVP polymer series and the effects of MDA versus EGDMA as a crosslinker were explained in terms of compositional drift of polymerisation, heterogeneous crosslinking and hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of the components involved. In comparison with EGDMA, MDA was found to be more effective in reducing the soluble fraction of the polymers studied and to produce less rigid networks when swollen.