DEHYDRATION KINETICS OF POLYVINYL ALCOHOL HYDROGEL WOUND DRESSINGS DURING WOUND HEALING PROCESS

The hydrogel wound dressing based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was prepared by the freezing-thawing cyclic method. The dehydration kinetics of prepared hydrogels was determined using the experimental method and mathematical modeling based on diffusion mechanism. The results show that the dehydration rate of PVA hydrogel wound dressing inversely depends on the hydrogel thickness as well as water content of the wound. On the other hand, the initial water content of hydrogel and the atmospheric humidity have little direct effect on the dehydration rate. The good agreement between experimental and mathematical modeling results in early stages of dehydration process shows that the predominate factor determining the dehydration of these wound dressings is diffusion.