Group contribution method for the swelling behavior of thermo‐responsive hydrogels

A group contribution method is introduced to describe the swelling behavior of thermo‐sensitive hydrogel systems. The accuracy of group contribution calculations is strongly dependent on the choice of thermodynamic model. Therefore, we revise the modified double lattice (MDL) model and develop a new expression for the interaction energy parameter using the association theory of Sanchez to take into account complex polymer/solvent mixing. The net Helmholtz energy for a hydrogel is established by combining the revised MDL model and modified Flory–Rehner elastic model. Group parameters are generated by fitting to experimental swelling data from both homopolymer and copolymer gel systems. The effect of salt on the volume phase transition is modeled by introducing an additional salt‐specific parameter to investigate various stimuli‐response swelling behavior. Calculated swelling equilibria using the new group contribution method shows excellent agreement with experimental data and various stimuli‐response volume phase transitions. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55, 455–463