Analysis of the swelling or shrinking kinetics of crosslinked hydrophilic polymers by mathematical modeling

摘要

The developed kinetic physical and mathematical model of a crosslinked hydrophilic polymer swelling process in aqueous solutions of low molecular weight compounds is presented. The model was tested on 13 combinations of "polymer-solution". The experimental results of measuring the swelling kinetics can be described by considering the flows caused by the difference in chemical potential of the water and solute inside/outside the swollen polymer, as well as the effect of elastic forces in the polymer. The calculation results are in a good agreement with experimental data.