Synthesis and rheological properties of soluble poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) and some copolymers

Abstract

AbstractMethods to synthesise soluble poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) with varying molar mass were developed. Conversions over 90% were achieved without losing solubility. Steady state tests (range 0.01–590 Pa) and oscillatory tests (range 0.001–40 Hz) were carried out on 40% solutions in dimethyl formamide using a Carri‐Med rheometer. Only PHEMA having molar mass over 500000 showed significant shear thinning and viscoelastic properties. The copolymers of 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) with n‐butyl acrylate (BA) and 2‐hydroxypropyl acrylate (HPA) showed higher viscosities and viscoelastic properties compared with PHEMA homopolymer prepared under identical conditions. Also, viscosity and viscoelasticity increased with increase in acrylate content in the initial mixture. This was attributed to the higher molar mass of copolymers, which resulted from faster polymerisation rates owing to the inclusion of relatively highly reactive acrylates. However, in the case of HEMA : BA copolymers, first, the viscosity and viscoelasticity increased with increasing BA content and then dropped again, giving a maximum around HEMA : BA 75 : 25. This anomaly was explained by taking the effects of changes in inter‐and intra‐molecular hydrogen bonding as well as conformational differences caused by inclusion of BA in the PHEMA chain into account.