Effect of initial monomer concentration on the equilibrium swelling and elasticity of hydrogels

Orakdogen N., Okay O.

EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL, cilt.42, sa.4, ss.955-960, 2006 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 42 Sayı: 4
  • Basım Tarihi: 2006
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2005.10.010
  • Dergi Adı: EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.955-960
  • İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The linear swelling ratio a and the effective network chain length N of a series of poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMAAm) hydrogels were investigated as a function of the gel preparation concentration v(2)(0). PDMAAm hydrogels were prepared at a fixed cross-linker ratio but at various initial monomer concentrations. It was found that alpha is not a monotonic function of v(2)(0). As v(2)(0) is increased, alpha first decreases up to about v(2)(0) = 0.10 and remains constant in a narrow range of v(2)(0), but then it increases continuously. The v(2)(0)-dependence of alpha is due to the variation of the network chain length N depending on the gel preparation concentration. In the range of v(2)(0), below 0.1, N follows the scaling relationship N approximate to (v(2)(o))(-2), while at higher concentrations, N varies only slightly with v(2)(o). The increase of alpha with N obeys the relation alpha approximate to (v(2)(o)N)(1/5), as predicted by the Flory-Rehner theory. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.