Swelling Behavior of Hydrophobic Association Hydrogels with High Mechanical Strength

Abstract

Hydrophobic association hydrogels (HA-gels) with high mechanical strength, self-healing capability and transparency were successfully prepared by micellar copolymerization, and associated micelles acted as physical crosslinking points in the network structure of HA-gels. In this study, the swelling behavior of HA-gels in distilled water at room temperature was investigated. With increasing the content of hydrophobic monomer in the HA-gels, the swelling degree of HA-gels decreased. According to the results of swelling experiments, a swelling model of HA-gels was proposed, which could reasonably explain the swelling behavior of HA-gels. Moreover, the effect of other test conditions on the swelling behavior of HA-gels was also investigated, such as temperature, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), pH and NaCl. These results indicate that the swelling behavior of HA-gels could be strongly influenced under the conditions mentioned above.