Swelling behavior of crosslinked hydroxypropyl cellulose films retaining cholesteric liquid crystalline order. I. Effect of temperature

Temperature dependence of the swelling behavior in both water and propanol was determined for the crosslinked hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) films retaining cholesteric liquid crystalline order (CLCO) and for the crosslinked amorphous HPC films. The dependence of swelling behavior in water for the films retaining CLCO was different from that of the amorphous films. With increasing temperature, the equilibrium swelling ratio (B_e) for the films retaining CLCO decreased, whereas B_e for the amorphous films increased. In propanol, both films exhibited the same temperature dependence. B_e increased with increasing temperature. The increasing rate of the swelling in transient state showed similar temperature dependence on B_e. The increasing rate for the films retaining CLCO decreased with temperature, but that for the amorphous films increased in water; in propanol, the increasing rate for two types of films increased. The difference in the swelling behavior between the two types of films may be due to the difference in the number-average molecular weight between crosslinks. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 73: 1015–1022, 1999