Abstract
Hydrogels are networks consisting of crosslinked hydrophilic polymers that absorb and retain water or biological fluids. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based hydrogels are non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, easily processed and therefore have been examined for tissue replacements, artificial skin, hemodialysis membrane and oral drug release systems. The research focuses on the synthesis of PVA–acrylamide based hydrogels, using glutaraldehyde, sodium tetraborate and N,N’-methylenebisacrylamide/sodium tetraborate mixture as crosslinking agents. The crosslinking copolymers were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR), thermal analysis (TG, DSC), and swelling behaviour in distilled water at 37.5 0C temperature. Keywords: crosslinked copolymers, poly(vinyl alcohol)-acrylamide, glutaraldehyde, sodium tetraborate, N,N’-methylenebisacrylamide