Diffusion in a crosslinked acrylamide polymer gel

✍ Scribed by White, Malcolm L. ;Dorion, George H.

• Book ID: 104531995
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1961
• Weight: 523 KB
• Volume: 55
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-3832
• DOI: 10.1002/pol.1961.1205516226

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The diffusion coefficients of sucrose, urea, potassium chloride, and heavy water (D~2~O) in an acrylamide–methylenebisacrylamide gel were determined as a function of total polymer concentration and degree of crosslinking, and found to decrease with increasing polymer concentration but to be relatively independent of the degree of crosslinking. Extrapolation of the values to 0% polymer gave diffusion coefficients that checked well with the known values for the solutes in pure water, indicating that there are no specific interactions of the gel with either electrolytes or nonelectrolytes. Equilibrium values for the diffusion after infinite time showed that all of the water in the gel is available for diffusion, indicating the absence of “bound” water. Calculation of average pore sizes from the diffusion data gave values that agreed with previously reported results obtained from water permeability measurements. These data confirm the hypothesis that the gel has a “brush‐heap” type of structure.