TY - JOUR
T1 - Development and characterisation of an agar-polyvinyl alcohol blend hydrogel
AU - Lyons, John G.
AU - Geever, Luke M.
AU - Nugent, Michael J.D.
AU - Kennedy, James E.
AU - Higginbotham, Clement L.
PY - 2009/10
Y1 - 2009/10
N2 - Numerous authors have reported on hydrogel technologies providing products suitable for applications in biomedical, personal care as well as in nano-sensor applications. Hydrogels fabricated from single polymers have been extensively investigated. However, in many cases a single polymer alone cannot meet divergent demands in terms of both properties and performance. In this work, hydrogels were prepared by physically blending the natural polymer agar with polyvinyl alcohol in varying ratios to produce a new biosynthetic polymer applicable for a variety of purposes. Hydrogen bonding was observed to take place between the polyvinyl alcohol and the agar molecules in the composite materials leading to changes in the thermal, mechanical and swelling characteristics of the composite hydrogels. The composite hydrogels exhibited a slightly higher melting temperature than pure agar (116.81 {ring operator}C). Irreversible compressive damage was found to occur at lower strain levels during compression testing of the dehydrated samples consisting of higher PVOH concentrations. Rheological analysis of hydrated sample revealed G′ values of between 5000 and 10,000 Pa for the composite blends, with gels containing higher PVOH percentages exhibiting poorer mechanical strength.
AB - Numerous authors have reported on hydrogel technologies providing products suitable for applications in biomedical, personal care as well as in nano-sensor applications. Hydrogels fabricated from single polymers have been extensively investigated. However, in many cases a single polymer alone cannot meet divergent demands in terms of both properties and performance. In this work, hydrogels were prepared by physically blending the natural polymer agar with polyvinyl alcohol in varying ratios to produce a new biosynthetic polymer applicable for a variety of purposes. Hydrogen bonding was observed to take place between the polyvinyl alcohol and the agar molecules in the composite materials leading to changes in the thermal, mechanical and swelling characteristics of the composite hydrogels. The composite hydrogels exhibited a slightly higher melting temperature than pure agar (116.81 {ring operator}C). Irreversible compressive damage was found to occur at lower strain levels during compression testing of the dehydrated samples consisting of higher PVOH concentrations. Rheological analysis of hydrated sample revealed G′ values of between 5000 and 10,000 Pa for the composite blends, with gels containing higher PVOH percentages exhibiting poorer mechanical strength.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67349270981&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2008.12.003
DO - 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2008.12.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 19627855
AN - SCOPUS:67349270981
SN - 1751-6161
VL - 2
SP - 485
EP - 493
JO - Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials
JF - Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials
IS - 5
ER -