Osmotic deswelling of polymer gels

Abstract

The osmotic deswelling of polymer networks swollen in a good solvent by transferring it into a solution of a linear polymer in the same solvent is investigated using the modified Flory model proposed previously. The predicted results obtained using this simple model are compared to the experimental data available in the literature. We further examine the variation of the degree of deswelling, the degree of swelling and the partition coefficient with the molecular weight, and the volume fraction of the linear polymer chains in the surrounding polymer solution. Also, the role of the packing factor is briefly discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.