Modelling of swelling of PVA hydrogels considering non-ideal mixing behaviour of PVA and water.

DAZA AGUDELO, JORGE IVAN; RAMIREZ, MARÍA ROSANA; HENQUIN, EDUARDO RUBEN; RINTOUL, IGNACIO

Journal of Materials Chemistry B

Royal Society of Chemistry

Año: 2019 vol. 7 p. 4049 - 4054

2050-750X

p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 120%; }Poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA) hydrogel microbeads are widely used as embolization agents forthe treatment of cancer in filtering organs. The success ofembolization procedures depends strongly on the swelling propertiesof the hydrogels. PVA hydrogels can be understood as non-idealmixtures of PVA and water. Here, the sum of PVA and water volumes isdifferent than the volume of their resulting mixture. The correlationbetween volumetric and mass swelling of PVA and water is highlyrelevant to several technological issues. In the presentcontribution, the water up take (WU), the most importantcharacteristic of PVA hydrogel microbeads intended for use as embolicagents, was investigated considering the hydrogel as a non-idealmixture of PVA and water. Hydrogel microbeads were obtained bychemical crosslinking of PVA with glutaraldehyde (GA) in emulsion.The structure of resulting microbeads was investigated using FT-IR,SEM and digital image analysis. The volumetric and mass swelling ofthe microbeads in water were followed by optical microscopy andgravimetric studies, respectively. Additionally, a WU model forhydrogels where the polymer and water behave as non-ideal mixtures ispresented.