Scaling Behavior and Structure–Property Relationships of Multifunctional Ternary‐Hydrogels Based on N‐Alkyl Methacrylate Esters: Property Tunability through Versatile Synthesis

Abstract

AbstractScaling behavior relating the synthesis conditions with swelling degree, preparation concentration and crosslinking density of multifunctional ternary‐gels consisting of 2‐(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) is reported. Swelling is controlled by DMAEMA portion of terpolymers and DMAEMA‐rich gels tended to swell more than GMA‐rich gels and increase in GMA increase polymer‐solvent interaction parameter, χ Critical conditions required for terpolymers to show phase transition are calculated as χ1=0.4993 and χ2=0.2959. Dependence of swelling degree ϕVon gel preparation concentration as a function of solvent quality is examined. Good solvent prediction of indicates a crossover between entanglement‐dominated case and strongly cross‐linked case corresponding to low and moderate degrees of swelling. Swelling of ternary‐gels in different solvents shows that cyclohexanol is a good solvent and solubility parameter is 23.7 (MPa)1/2. Addition of hydrophobic GMA leads to a significant increase in stiffness of terpolymer gels. Increase in elastic modulus as‐prepared state is not monotonic and can be controlled by adjusting DMAEMA/GMA ratio since tertiary amine groups triggers cascading epoxy ring‐opening reaction. Reduced modulus Gr decreased with increasing swelling degree and scaling relation between modulus and swelling is found as Gr ≈ (ϕV)−0.66 which indicates that ternary‐hydrogels, limited to weak stretching regime, obey Gaussian statistics.