AN APPARATUS TO MEASURE POLYMER SWELLING UNDER LOAD

A new apparatus was developed and used to investigate the swelling beh avior of crosslinked hydrophilic polymers under an applied load as a f unction of time and absorbed weight. The swelling capacity and creep c ompliance of the polyacrylates under load was found to be a function o f their degree of crosslinking. The swelling behavior was analyzed as a function of time using the Nutting equation which allowed for a meas ure of the relative viscous or elastic contributions of the polymer to the creep behavior.