Thermal and dynamic mechanical analysis of PVA/MC blend hydrogels

New blend hydrogels based on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and methylcellulose (MC) were prepared by crosslinking in an aqueous solution with glutaraldehyde (GA) in the presence of HCl. The state of the miscibility of the blend hydrogel films was examined over the entire composition range by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Depressions of the melting and crystallization temperatures of PVA were observed with increasing MC content and crosslinking density via the DSC. The determination of the glass transition temperature of blend hydrogels by DMA indicated that they exhibit a higher miscibility than the non-crosslinked blends. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.