Synthesis and Characterisation of PVA/PVOH Based Super Porous Hydrogel
Santosh Kumar Barik` *
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology, Sarang, 759146, Odisha, India
Harekrushna Sutar
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology, Sarang, 759146, Odisha, India
Subash Chandra Mishra
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, 769008, Odisha, India
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The present paper explains the synthesis of super porous hydrogel (SPH) with reinforcement of different concentrations (0.05, 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 g) of PVA by solution polymerization. The polymerisation process is conducted at a pH value of 5. The corollaries of PVA on different characteristics of super porous hydrogel were studied. The characterization study involves measurement of apparent density, swelling, mechanical strength and microstructure. The PVA added SPH are treated for a total time of 550 minutes in double distilled water and acid salt solution to analyse the swelling properties. The result shows that inclusion of PVA to SPH reduces its swelling tendency culminating that; the empathy for swelling is more in double distilled water than acid medium.
Keywords: Super porous hydrogel, poly vinyl alcohol, apparent density, mechanical strength, swelling studies