• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.615-626
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• 2021

The main objective of this study is to present a fast and reliable approach to predict the swelling potential of clay-bearing rocks. Investigations showed that there is a good correlation between the swelling potential of a rock and its desire to absorb water due to its clay content which could be measured using the "Contact Angle" test as one of the most common ways to determine the wettability. In this test, the angle between a water drop and the flat rock surface on which it rests is measured. The present method is very fast and returns repeatable results and requires minimal sample preparation. Only having a saw-cut surface of a sample with any shape is all one needs to perform this test. The logic behind this approach is that the swelling potential of a rock is a function of its mineral content and molecular structure, which are not only distributed in the bulk of the sample but also reflected on its surface. Therefore, to evaluate swelling behavior, it is not necessary to wait for a sample to get wet all the way to its "internal structure" (which, due to the low permeability of clay-bearing rocks, is very slow and time-consuming). Instead, one can have a good sense of swelling potential by studying its surface. Parametric studies on the effect of moisture content, porosity, and surface roughness on the contact angle measurements showed that using a saw-cut oven-dried sample is a convenient way to evaluate the swelling potential by this method.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.97-106
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• 2020

Swelling properties and shear strength behavior of MgO-Sand mixtures with hydration procese of MgO are compared according to different MgO contents (W_MgO/W_Total=0, 30, 50, 70, 100%) in this study. The specimens are prepared by mixing with crushed MgO refractory bricks and silica sand. After hydration, the particle size and the specific gravity of MgO were decreases. Through microstructure observation and X-ray diffraction analysis, it is confirmed that MgO changes from the cubic structure of Periclase to the hexagonal cubic structure of Brucite after hydration. As the MgO content increases, both swelling rate and swelling pressure of the mixtures increase. W_MgO/W_Total=30% specimen shows relatively low swelling pressure and swelling rate because produced Mg(OH)₂ mainly fills the pores between sand particles. However, in the case of MgO more than 50%, swelling pressure and swelling rate increase significantly because Mg(OH)₂ fills the pores of sand particles at first and then either pushes out sand particles or Mg(OH)₂ particles after filling the pores. As a result of the direct shear test, before hydration, the mixtures show a dilative behavior on high MgO contents and a contractive behavior on low MgO contents. However, after hydration, the behavior of all mixtures changes to contractive behavior. The threshold fraction of fine (i.e., Mg(OH)₂) contents of the hydrated MgO-Sand mixtures reveals approximately 60% compared with normalized shear strength.

• Fibers and Polymers
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.223-228
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• 2006

Hydrogels of semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (semi-IPNs) were prepared by two step reactions. Dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAM) and poly(ethylene glycol)-dimethacrylate (PEGDM) were copolymerized to yield hydrogels, and then acrylic acid (AA) monomer were adsorbed in the hydrogels followed by polymerization of AA to produce semi-IPNs. The swelling behavior of semi-IPNs depends largely on pH of medium, showing that the degree of swelling of the semi-IPNs exhibits a minimum at pH 6.0. It is observed that the elastic modulus of semi-IPNs is closely related to its swelling behavior.

• Rubber Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-4
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• 2005

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.15-36
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• 2013

Incorporation of polar functional moieties into polyethylene (PE) film has been achieved by graft copolymerization of polar monomers such as methacrylic acid (MAAc) and acrylamide (AAm) on to PE film, preirradiated with ${\gamma}$-rays from $^{60}Co$ source, using benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as initiator in aqueous medium. Percentage of grafting of MAAc and AAm was determined as a function of irradiation dose, monomer and initiator concentration, temperature, reaction time and amount of water. Maximum percentage of grafting of MAAc (1453%) and AAm (21.28%) was obtained at [MAAc] = $235.3{\times}10^{-2}$ mol/L, [AAm] = $23.4{\times}10^{-2}$ mol/L, [BPO] = $5.5{\times}10^{-2}$ mol/L and $16.5{\times}10^{-2}$ mol/L at $80^{\circ}C$, $90^{\circ}C$ in 180 min and 90 min respectively. The grafted PE films were characterized by FTIR, Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) Scanning Electron Micrography (SEM) and X-ray diffraction methods. Some selective properties of grafted films such as swelling behavior, ion and metal uptake have been carried out. The biodegradation studies of the grafted PE films have also been investigated. The grafted films developed superior swelling behavior with maximum swelling (480%) in water as compared to pristine PE (13.55%), better thermal stability and ion and metal uptake studies showed promising results that can be effectively used for desalination of brackish water and separation of metals from the industrial effluents.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1995 no.05
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• pp.223-226
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• 1995

Polymers have been developed and applied in many biomedical areas as well as engineering and industrial fields. The first essential to achieve successful development and applications is that properties of such polymer materials would be investigated. In many cases, such investigations are accomplished by observing polymeric behavior arising from the environmental changes such as pH, temperature, and ionic concentration. It has long been known that NMR is extremely sensitive to many biochemical and physical changes occurring in the polymer samples. In the present study we focus our study on NMR Microimaging, which is one of the important NMR applications, to characterize the swelling effect by observing the time dependent spatial variations of polymer specimens. For the samples three kinds of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) specimens are prepared with different degrees of cross linking density. $^1H$ NMR microimages are acquired as a function of time to visualize the swelling behavior as well as volumetric changes occurring in the specimens. From the acquired time dependent images, the swelling process is exploited.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.983-987
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• 2005

Hydrogels composed of glycidyl methacrylate dextran (GMD) and poly(acrylic acid, PM) were prepared by UV irradiation method for colon-specific drug delivery. GMD was synthesized by coupling of glycidyl methacrylate to dextran in the presence of 4-(N,N-dimethylamino)pyridine. GMD was photo-polymerized by ammonium peroxydisulfate as initiating system in phosphate­buffered solution (0.1 M, pH 7.4). And then, acrylic acid monomer was added and subsequently heat-polymerized by 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator. The hydrogels exhibited high swelling ratio (about 20) at $37^{\circ}C$, and showed a pH-dependent swelling behavior. In addition, the swelling ratio of the hydrogel was remarkably enhanced to about 45 times in the presence of dextranase at pH 7.4. The swelling-deswelling behavior proceeded reversibly for the GMD/PM hydrogels between pH 2 and pH 7.4. Release of 5-aminosalicylic acid from the GMD/PAA hydrogels was evaluated in simulated gastrointestinal pH fluids in the absence or presence of dextranase. We concluded that the hydrogels prepared could be used as a dual-sensitive drug carrier for sequential release in gastrointestinal tract.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.56-61
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• 2011

In the present study, glucose-sensitive hydrogels using phenylboronic acid (PBA) without glucose oxidase and catalase were prepared. The swelling-shrinking behavior of the hydrogel according to the variation of pH and glucose and ionic concentrations was investigated. The swelling ratio of the hydrogel containing PBA increased with increasing the glucose concentration and the volume was very sensitively varied with the pH. However, the ionic concentration did not change significantly the relative swelling ratio on the hydrogel, indicating that the hydrogel was dimensionally stable.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.189-193
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• 2008

Thermal cross-linking method of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) using poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) was carried out on PVA/PAA hydrogels. The level of gelation was measured in the PVA/PAA hydrogels with various PAA contents. The swelling behavior at various pHs showed that the swelling kinetics and water contents of the PVA/PAA hydrogels reached equilibrium after 30 h, and the time to reach the equilibrium state decreased with increasing PAA content in the hydrogel. The water content increased with increasing pH of the buffer solution. The permeation and release of the drug were tested using indomethacin as a model drug. The permeated and released amounts of the drug increased with decreasing the PAA content because of the low free volume in the hydrogel due to the higher cross-linking density. The kinetic profile of drug release at various pHs showed that all samples reached the equilibrium state within the 5 h.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.478-485
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• 2013

In this study, hydrogels with fast swelling and high absorbent properties were prepared using biopolymers approved as a food additive and their swelling properties were characterized. To improve the swelling properties of conventional hydrogels, we formed gas bubbles using a foaming agent in the process of preparing hydrogels and characterized in terms of equilibrium swelling ratio, swelling kinetics and cytotoxicity. In particular, alginate hydrogels observed by a digital microscope have an open-pore channels structure with the sizes of hundreds micrometers. Also, the cell viability of all hydrogels were found to be much higher than that of poly(acrylic acid).