Creep and Mechanical Properties of Poly(vinyl alcohol) Hydrogels

Abstract

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels were prepared by the repeated freezing and thawing cycles, and creep behavior of the gels was examined. In the gel preparation, the salt K₂CO₃ was introduced to obtain the clear gel structure. By the creep we also prepared the condensed PVA gels with unidirectional structure. The mechanical anisotropy was observed for the unidirectional gel.