The present paper reports the preparation of full IPNs of gelatin and polyacrylonitrile. Various compositions of gluteraldehyde crosslinked gelatin and N,N′ ′-methylene-bis-acrylamide crosslinked PAN were characterized by SEM and DSC techniques. The IPNs were also thermally pretreated by the annealing process. The effects of annealing temperature on the microhardness of IPNs were studied using the Vickers method. SEM indicates the homogeneous morphological features for IPN. The role of gelatin, AN and crosslinker on the developed hard biopolymer has been described with the help of DSC thermograms and microhardness measurements of annealed specimens and good correlation is observed.

ABSTRACT:The present article reports the effect of gamma irradiation on the hardness behavior of the interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) of gelatin and polyacrylonitrile (PAN). Various compositions of gluteraldehydecrosslinked gelatin and N, NЈ-methylene bis acrylamide (MBA)-crosslinked PAN were prepared and investigated for microhardness studies. The pre-and post-irradiated IPNs were characterized for their crosslinking density, determined with swelling ratio measurements. It was found that the crosslinked IPNs get further hardened because of radiational hardening at specific doses in the range from 2 to 250 kGy. The role of acrylonitrile and crosslinker (MBA) in the IPNs, as a consequence of irradiation, has also been explained. A fair consistency has been observed between the microhardness results and crosslinking density measurements.

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