| Abstract: | The rheological behavior of two hydrogels, poly(sodium acrylate) and polyacrylamide gels, synthesized in the presence of the same crosslinking agent molecule, N,N′-methylene bis-acrylamide, has been investigated. The variation of the norm of the complex shear modulus |G*| vs. the monomer concentration (sodium acrylate or acrylamide) exhibited a different power law, depending on the nature of the monomer molecule. This discrepancy was ascribed to the influence of the properties of the monomer molecules on the crosslinked structure of the gelified networks. The analysis of the experimental results have allowed the suggestion that the elasticity exponent value was dependent on the length and on the conformation of the polymer chains connecting the junctions points of the network. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 35 : 2535–2541, 1997 |
