Viscoelastic characteristics of UV polymerized poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate networks with varying extents of crosslinking

The viscoelastic relaxation characteristics of ultraviolet crosslinked networks based on poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate [PEGDA] have been investigated by dynamic mechanical methods. Effective crosslink density in the networks was varied via the use of PEGDA prepolymers of different molecular weight, or by the introduction of controlled amounts of water in the reaction mixture. In all cases examined, fully amorphous networks were obtained. Time-temperature superposition was applied to obtain master curves of storage modulus versus frequency across the glass transition, and these could be satisfactorily described using the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts relaxation function. The glass transition temperature (T-g), relaxation breadth, and fragility of the segmental relaxation were correlated with the effective crosslink density obtained in the networks. Gas permeation measurements on the PEGDA/water networks indicated only a very modest variation in gas transport properties, despite the sizeable variation in apparent crosslink density achieved in these materials. This result suggests that the controlling structural factor for gas transport in the networks is not simply crosslink density, and that attempts to correlate gas transport to network structure must necessarily consider the broader relationships between crosslink density, segmental mobility, and fractional free volume. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.