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A hybrid polymer gel and its static nonergodicity
Author(s) -
Zhao Yue,
Wu Chi
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/masy.200450304
Subject(s) - speckle pattern , materials science , polymer , scattering , isopropyl , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , polymer science , chemical physics , optics , chemistry , composite material , physics , organic chemistry , engineering
Abstract We used a thermally reversible hybrid gel made of billions of physically jam‐packed, swollen, thermally sensitive poly( N ‐isopropyl‐acrylamide) chemical microgels. Laser light scattering study on a series of such hybrid gels formed at different gelling rates and temperatures revealed that the position‐dependence of the scattering speckle pattern (static nonergodicity) came from large voids formed during the sol‐gel transition. With proper preparation, such nonergodicity is completely removed, indicating that the static nonergodicity generally observed in a gel is not intrinsic, but comes from clustering “island” structures formed during the gelation process.