Issue 19, 2021

Implicit rule on the elastic function of a swollen polyacrylamide hydrogel

Abstract

A full understanding of the elastic properties of hydrogels under swelling is required for their practical application in the chemical and biomedical engineering fields. This is because hydrogels are expected to retain water during mechanical use in moist atmospheres. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between the elastic modulus and the swelling ratio in a specific type of hydrogel (a polyacrylamide gel). The elasticity and swelling data revealed that these two parameters are proportionally related in hydrogels comprising adequate amounts of monomers and crosslinkers. We also demonstrated that this proportional relationship inherently conforms to the linear elastic behaviour predicted by the Flory–Rehner free energy function (the F–R model). The implicit rule is established by the extended F–R model with two scaling exponents. The extended model is capable of representing the irregular elasticity of swollen gels formed from low- or high-molecular-weight polymers.

Graphical abstract: Implicit rule on the elastic function of a swollen polyacrylamide hydrogel

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
05 Mar 2021
Accepted
16 Apr 2021
First published
19 Apr 2021

Soft Matter, 2021,17, 4979-4988

Implicit rule on the elastic function of a swollen polyacrylamide hydrogel

R. Kawai, H. Tanaka, S. Matsubara, S. Ida, M. Uchida and D. Okumura, Soft Matter, 2021, 17, 4979 DOI: 10.1039/D1SM00346A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements