Hierarchic Structure of Poly(vinyl alcohol) Gels (FUNDAMENTAL MATERIAL PROPERTIES-Polymer Materials Science)

摘要

We studied the structure and its formation process of poly(vinyl alcohol) gels formed in a mixture of deuterated dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO-d6) and heavy water at 25 °C, using various kinds of scattering techniques such as wide-, medium-, small- and ultra small-angle neutron scattering and light scattering to cover a wide Q-range of 10-4 to 10 A-1, corresponding to a real space of 0.63 to 63000 A. On the basis of the results, we will discuss the hierarchic structure of PVA gels, which is basically determined by competition between the rate of liquid-liquid phase separation and the rate of crystallization or formation of cross-linking points.