Water diffusion into radiation crosslinked PVA–PVP network hydrogels

A series of hydrogels comprised of crosslinked networks of poly(vinyl alcohol), PVA and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone), PVP, have been prepared using gamma radiolysis of aqueous solutions of the polymers to effect crosslinking of the polymer chains. The molecular weight of the PVA was in the range 75–105 kDa and of PVP was 360 kDa. Gel doses were measured for the polymers and found to be 11 kGy for PVA, 3.7 kGy for PVP and 4.6 kGy for a mixture of PVA and PVP with a mole fraction of PVP of 0.19. The initial water content of the gels was 87.2 wt%. Further water uptake studies were undertaken using both gravimetric and NMR imaging analyses. These studies showed that the uptake processes followed Fickian kinetics with diffusion coefficients ranging from 1.8×10−11 for the PVA hydrogel to 4.4×10−11 m2 s−1 for the PVP hydrogel for radiation doses of 25 kGy and a temperature of 310 K. At 298 K the gravimetric study yielded a diffusion coefficient of 1.5×10−11 m2 s−1 whereas the NMR analysis yielded a slightly higher value of 2.0×10−11 m2 s−1 for the hydrogel with a mole fraction of PVP of 0.19 and a radiation dose of 25 kGy.