SWELLING OF A SILICON-CONTAINING MATRIX MODIFIED BY A POLYELECTROLYTE

For the first time collapse (or decollapse) has been detected for graf ted polyacrylic acid macromolecules on an organosilicon elastic matrix . In the process of graft polymerization of acrylic acid on lestosil ( a copolymer of dimethylsiloxane and phenylcilsesquioxane) after conver sion > 100% the grafted polymer is distributed throughout the matrix, i. e., a system is produced with properties characteristic of an inter penetrating network. At a specific monomer:water ratio in the presence of a solvent with a continuously varying composition the polyacrylic acid macromolecules undergo sudden changes in their size.