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Fabrication and Characterisation of Microgel/ P olymer Composite Microfibres
Author(s) -
Kehren Dominic,
Pich Andrij
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.201300024
Subject(s) - materials science , vinyl alcohol , differential scanning calorimetry , composite number , electrospinning , thermogravimetric analysis , swelling , sorption , chemical engineering , gravimetric analysis , composite material , fiber , isothermal process , aqueous solution , kinetics , polymer chemistry , polymer , adsorption , organic chemistry , chemistry , physics , engineering , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics
Abstract In this work microgel‐PVA composite fibres are prepared by means of an electrospinning process using aqueous solutions of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly( N ‐vinylcaprolactam)‐based microgels. The optimal parameters are defined to fabricate homogenous composite fibres in which the microgels are embedded into a PVA matrix. It is demonstrated that the fibres can be physically and chemically crosslinked. The fibre morphology is visualised and its properties investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, DSC, thermo‐gravimetric analysis, TGA, and isothermal moisture sorption analysis. The results show that the thermo‐sensitive properties of the microgels are retained inside the fibres and that the degree of swelling and the moisture sorption kinetics can be tuned by changing the temperature.