Diversity of polymer gels and the main factors determining the properties of gels and related solid polymers

This paper is a survey of the authors’ main results on the properties and structure of polymer gels of diverse nature that are related to the ideas of S.P. Papkov and G.V. Vinogradov. The properties of physical and chemical gels of various compositions and structures and of solid polymers prepared on their basis are considered in relation to the polymer concentration and thermodynamic quality of a solvent during gel preparation. It is demonstrated that the conditions of gel synthesis affect the dependence of the elastic modulus of the gel on the volume fraction of the solvent in it. The properties of the gels based on model chemical networks for soft- and stiff-chain polymers are compared.