Synthesis and Swelling Behaviour of Some Crosslinked Poly(vinyl alcohol)-acrylamide Hydrogels

Hydrogels are networks consisting of crosslinked hydrophilic polymers that absorb and retain water or biological fluids. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based hydrogels are non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, easily processed and therefore have been examined for tissue replacements, artificial skin, hemodialysis membrane and oral drug release systems. The research focuses on the synthesis of PVA-acrylamide based hydrogels, using glutaraldehyde, sodium tetraborate and N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide/sodium tetraborate mixture as crosslinking agents. The crosslinking copolymers were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR), thermal analysis (TG, DSC) and swelling behaviour in distilled water at 37.5 degrees C temperature.