Radiation modification of environmental friendly hydrogels based on hydroxypropyl cellulose

Hiroki, Akihiro; Sato, Toshihiro*; Nagasawa, Naotsugu; Taguchi, Mitsumasa; Tamada, Masao

Radiation modification of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) hydrogels by blending polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was investigated. The blend hydrogels constructed with HPC and PVA were prepared by electron beam irradiation to high concentrated aqueous solutions. Gel fraction of the blend hydrogels increased sharply up to 10 kGy, and leveled off at 50 kGy. It was found that PVA content caused a decrease in the gel fraction. Elongation at break of the blend hydrogels obtained at 50 kGy gradually increased with the PVA content beyond 0.4 wt%, and reached 125 % at 4 wt% of PVA, which was about 1.8 times larger than that of the pure HPC hydrogel. Therefore, the HPC hydrogels with desired mechanical properties were obtained by the combination of PVA blending with the radiation crosslinking technique.