Radiation Synthesis And Characterization Of Poly(Aa-Co-Nvp)/Clay Hydrogels

The pH-sensitive P(AA-co-NVP)/clay hydrogels were prepared with the monomers of acrylic acid ( AA) and N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP) based on gamma-ray irradiation technique. The influence of pH values of buffer solutions and contents of clay and NVP on the equilibrium swelling ratio ( SR) and compressive properties of the hydrogels was investigated in detail. The results of swelling property tests showed that, with the increase of clay content, the SR of hydrogels increases in the same buffer solution, and the SR of hydrogels with different contents of HTMAB-clay is higher than that of P( AA-co-NVP) hydrogels without clay. When the content of clay is 15%, the SR of P( AA-co-NVP)/ clay hydrogel is 201 at pH = 9.8,which is 1.23 times of that of the P( AA-co-NVP) hydrogel ( 164). In addition, the SR of P( AA-co-NVP)/ clay hydrogel is higher than that of PAA/clay hydrogel in the same solution. The compressive properties of the hydrogel were also examined. The results showed that the compressive properties of the P( AA-co-NVP)/ clay hydrogels were improved distinctly as compared to those of the conventional hydrogels without clay. When the content of clay is 15%, the compression strength of the P(AA-co-NVP)/ clay hydrogel is 23 times of that of the P( AA-co-NVP) hydrogel.