Abstract
Hydrogels are promising biomaterials for diverse applications that require studying their rheological properties. While some properties of hydrogels have been investigated, their comparative analysis for a deeper understanding of their rheological properties is required to determine their mechanical behavior. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) are among the hydrogels with diverse applications in engineering. This study aims to provide comparative data on their rheological properties. Both PVA and PEG showed steady shear viscosity as their viscosity did not show a huge change with time. Their shear viscosity increased with shear strain. PEG showed more shear thickening behavior than PVA. While the shear viscosity of PVA reached a plateau, that of PEG continued to increase. This was attributed to the sensitivity of PEG to its deformation because of the junction separations after the application of mechanical force on the polymer. Furthermore, the slow increase in the shear viscosity of both polymers was observed with the increase of the shear rate. This increase was 2.4 % for PVA and 8.7 % PEG, respectively. As these polymers are among the candidates for the preparation of nanocomposites, the results of this study can provide the required information for their applications in engineering.
Highlights
Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) are among the polymers that absorb water during their preparation
The biocompatibility of PVA and PEG has made them excellent candidates for medical applications for drug delivery systems and tissue engineering [9,10,11,12,13,14]
The viscosity increase of PVA with time was small and reached a plateau, that of PEG was significative and continued at 1 000 s. This shows that when shear stress is applied on these polymers, the effect of the viscosity increase with time for PEG is more than that of PVA
Summary
Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) are among the polymers that absorb water during their preparation. Three types of hydrogels are used in engineering based on their chemical composition: natural, synthetic and hybrid hydrogels [10]. Further classification of hydrogels depends on their ionic charge, structure, and preparation methods [16, 17] Their network structure should be controlled to get an appropriate design and characterization, which impact the degradation of hydrogel scaffolds, diffusion of bioactive molecules, and migration of cells through the network [16, 17]
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