Gg. Ferrer et al., SWELLING AND THERMALLY STIMULATED DEPOLARIZATION CURRENTS IN HYDROGELS FORMED BY INTERPENETRATING POLYMER NETWORKS, Journal of non-crystalline solids, 235, 1998, pp. 692-696
Polymer hydrogels have been prepared whose hydrophilicity is determine
d by the relative amounts of the component polymers, in the form of in
terpenetrating networks of a hydrophobic and a hydrophilic constituent
. Equilibrium water contents, diffusivity of water and water sorption
isotherms have been measured as a function of xerogel composition. The
rmally stimulated current spectra have been measured for each xerogel
composition at a series of different hydrogel water contents, and the
effects of water on the relaxations of the polymer have been studied.
The set of results suggests that the interpenetrating polymer networks
(IPNS) are phase-separated systems with hydrophilic domains behaving
essentially as does the pure hydrophilic component polymer. (C) 1998 E
lsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.