Equilibrium swelling and mechanical properties of hydrogels of acrylamide and itaconic acid or its esters

Summary The equilibrium swelling and the plateau elastic modulus of a family of hydrogels made by the polymerization of acrylamide with itaconic acid or some of its esters were investigated as a function of composition and crosslinking degree to find materials with satisfactory swelling and elastic properties. We show that an appropriate selection of the comonomers and the concentration of the crosslinking agent is very important to produce hydrogels with large swelling capacity and good mechanical attributes. Tailoring of mechanical properties and swelling can also be achieved by this method. Received: 7 September 1999/Revised version: 3 December 1999/Accepted: 6 December 1999