INFLUENCE OF SOME CROSS-LINKERS ON THE SWELLING OF ACRYLAMIDE CROTONIC ACID HYDROGELS

Acrylamide-crotonic acid hydrogels in the form of rods are prepared by gamma-irradiation of quaternary mixtures of acrylamide-crotonic acid- crosslinker-water with 2.6 and 5.2 kGy gamma-rays. The influence of th e applied dose, the relative content of crotonic acid and crosslinkers such as ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, 1.4 butanediol dimethacrylate and N,N' methylenebisacrylamide on the swelling properties of the gel , the diffusional behaviour of water, the diffusion coefficient: and t he network parameters of hydrogel systems are examined. Acrylamide-cro tonic acid hydrogels containing various crosslinkers had a maximum swe lling in the range 240-850 %. Water diffusion to hydrogels was non-Fic kian. The diffusion coefficients varied between 4.6 x 10(-7) and 9.1 x 10(-7) cm(2) s(-1).