EFFECT OF CROSS-LINKING ON THE PROPERTIES OF POLY(2-HYDROXYETHYL METHACRYLATE) HYDROGELS

By means of gamma-irradiation 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate has been copolymerized in bulk with two different tetrafunctional monomers, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate and 1,3-bis(acryloxymethyl) tetramethyl disiloxane and with a hexafunctional monomer, 1,1,1-trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate. The resultant xerogels were subsequently swollen to equilibrium in water. In order to allow a comparison among the three crosslinkers, their molar masses and functionalities were taken into account, the theoretical crosslink concentrations being varied from 0.032 to 0.644 mol dm-3. The relative hydrophobicity of the three crosslinkers was found to have a significant effect on both the equilibrium swelling and elastic modulus of the swollen gels. Non-freezing water in several gels crosslinked with 1,1,1-trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate was analysed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The proportion of non-freezing water in the gel relative to the overall water content was found to increase with increasing crosslink density.