Investigating the Swelling Behavior of Polyacrylamide Hydrogels

Hydrogels are a 3D network of crosslinked polymer chains that absorb water. They have many applications, including contact lenses, drug delivery systems, and medical devices due to their tunable mechanical properties. One common hydrogel chemistry that has been examined extensively is polyacrylamide. My research aims to understand the swelling behavior and mechanical properties of polyacrylamide hydrogels with varying monomer concentration and constant crosslinking ratio. We characterized swelling behavior by measuring the volume and mass before and after swelling and measured the elastic modulus using a custom built linear reciprocating tribometer. We observed a non-monotonic trend in volume change with increasing monomer concentration, which deviated from the existing Flory-Rehner swelling model. Current work is being done to investigate this interesting phenomenon, which will lead to a better understanding of the swelling behavior of polyacrylamide hydrogels.

Faculty Mentor: Angela Pitenis

Project Mentor: Allison Chau