PREPARATION AND PROPERTIES OF CLAY/POLY（N-ISOPROPYLACRYLAMIDE-co-A CRYL AMIDE） NANOCOMPOSITE HYDROGELS

PREPARATION AND PROPERTIES OF CLAY/POLY(N-ISOPROPYLACRYLAMIDE-co-ACRYL AMIDE) NANOCOMPOSITE HYDROGELS

A series of clay/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylamide) nanocomposite hydrogels (S-N-M gels) have been successfully prepared by in situ polymerization. The mechanical properties,swelling behavior of S-N-M gels and the transparency changes during polymerization of S-N-M gels have been systematically investigated. Compared to traditional hydrogeb, S-N-M gels show excellent tensile properties and their swelling ratio increases with increasing acrylamide (AAm) content. The results of stress relaxation indicate that the stress loss decreases with increasing AAm content. It was surprisingly found that the transparency during all S-N-M gel synthesis changes abruptly, and the changes become more abrupt with increasing N-isopropylacrylamide content. It was concluded that the fact may be related to the hydrophilicity of copolymers. The weaker the hydrophilicity of copolymer, the more apparent the transparency change during S-N-M gels polymerization. We believe the relationship between hydrophilicity of copolymer and transparency changes will help to design novel nanocomposite hydrogels.