Investigation of a-PVA/s-PVA hydrogels prepared by freezing-thawing method

The hydrogels of atactic poly (vinyl alcohol) (a-PVA) and syndiotactic poly (vinyl alcohol) (s-PVA) with different blend ratios were prepared by freezing-thawing processes. The effect of s-PVA on gelation behavior of the blend was investigated in terms of gelation temperature (T (gel)) and hydrogel melting temperature (T (gm)). And swelling behavior, crystallization, thermal properties, morphology of the blend hydrogels were also studied. With the increase of s-PVA, T (gel) of the blend solution and T (gm) of the blend hydrogels increase. Both crystallinity and crystallite dimensions based on the XRD profiles are nearly monotonically increasing functions of s-PVA content. FTIR results indicate the number of hydrogen bonds raises with s-PVA increasing. DSC results demonstrate s-PVA favors improvement of hydrogels thermal stability. According to SEM images of hydrogels, the increase of cross-linking caused by s-PVA in the blend hydrogels results in denser structure, which in turn leads to increased gel fraction (G) and Hardness. 50/50 (a-PVA/s-PVA) blend hydrogel has a denser structure with EWC of 73.6 %, hardness of 22.8 HA and T (m) of 236.15 A degrees C. The result indicates blending a-PVA and s-PVA is a useful method to form the hydrogel having good thermal stability and relative high degree of swelling.