Mechanical Properties of Polyelectrolyte Complex Films Based on Polyvinylamine and Carboxymethyl Cellulose

Abstract

Homogeneous polyelectrolyte complex films were cast from mixtures of poly(vinylamine-co-vinylformamide) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) in 50% formic acid aqueous solution with compositions varying between CMC blended with pure polyvinylamine (PVAm) and CMC blended with pure poly(N-vinylformamide) (PNVF). The tensile strength and tensile modulus of the complex films were measured as functions of polymer ratio, molecular weight, function group content, and water content. PVAm addition lowered the strength and modulus of dry CMC whereas PNVF did not; intermediate PVAm−PNVF copolymers gave intermediate results. Mechanical strength decreased with increasing molecular weight of CMC and carboxyl content, but was not affected by molecular weight of PVAm. The mechanical properties of all the films decreased with increasing water content. CMC:PVAm films were swollen gels in water, whereas CMC:PNVF films dissolved in water. Heating did not improve the mechanical strength, whereas cross-linking with 5% glutaraldehyde doubled the strength. It was proposed that hydrogen bonding was the predominant intermolecular force responsible for the strength of dry film blends whereas ionic bonds between CMC-carboxyl and PVAm-ammonium ions were responsible for the integrity of water swollen polyelectrolyte films.

Strength and Barrier Enhancements of Cellophane and Cellulose Derivative Films: A Review

“…The film-forming capabilities are due to the long chain length of the CMC molecules. As for other cellulose-based materials, the mechanical properties of CMC-containing films are lessened with increasing moisture content (Feng et al 2006). The highest strength achieved in the experiment and corresponding mechanical parameters are given.…”

Dissolving microneedles for transdermal drug delivery

“…Guided by these criteria, we selected two polysaccharides -i.e., carboxymethylcellulose and amylopectin -because they are biocompatible materials with a history of use in FDA-approval parenteral formulations [18,19], are expected to be mechanically strong due to their relatively high Young's modulus [20,21], and are highly water soluble for rapid dissolution in the skin [22].…”

Enhanced Absorbent Products Incorporating Cellulose and Its Derivatives: A Review

“…6565 Gürdağ et al 2001;Kim & Mun 2009;Feng et al 2010a;Bao et al 2011;Pourjavadi et al 2009 Divinylsulfone (DVS) Lionetto et al 2003;Sannino et al 2004a Vitta et al 1986;Askari et al 1993 Epichlorohydrin (ECH) Chang et al 2008Chang et al , 2009a2010 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic dianhydride (BCTA) Kono & Fujita 2012; Diallyltartardiamide (DATDA) Pohjanlehto et al 2011 Glutaraldehyde (GA) Shang et al 2008;Zamani et al 2010 Polyelectrolyte complexes A unique type of hydrogel can be formed through the use of pairs of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes via the formation of polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs). At least one of the polyelectrolytes could be a cellulosic material such as carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) (Feng et al 2006;Feng and Pelton 2007) or hemicellulose (Salam et al 2011b). Though PECs generally do not show promise for the absorption of large amounts of pure water, various studies have shown favorable results for the absorption of saline solutions, possibly representing urine (Paula et al 2002;Feng et al 2006;Feng and Pelton 2007).…”

“…At least one of the polyelectrolytes could be a cellulosic material such as carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) (Feng et al 2006;Feng and Pelton 2007) or hemicellulose (Salam et al 2011b). Though PECs generally do not show promise for the absorption of large amounts of pure water, various studies have shown favorable results for the absorption of saline solutions, possibly representing urine (Paula et al 2002;Feng et al 2006;Feng and Pelton 2007). Despite the fact that under many circumstances the ionic interactions are sufficient to maintain the integrity of such gels, some researchers have reported enhancement of hydrogel capabilities when covalent crosslinkers have been applied in the preparation of such PEC hydrogels (Chen and Tan 2006;Shang et al 2008;Salam et al 2011b).…”

“…In either case, pure water can be expected to diffuse into a hydrogel until a combination of partial dilution of the effective ionic concentration within the gel, plus elastic stretching of the gel achieves a balance of forces (Vitta et al 1986;Ganji et al 2010). The viscoelastic properties of various hydrogels, sometimes as a function of their state of swelling, have been studied (Guilherme et al 2005;Feng et al 2006;Chang et al 2009a;Dai and Kadla 2009;Larsson et al 2010). Notably, Larsson et al (2011) and Spagnol et al (2012a) showed that the inclusion of microfibrillated cellulose or cellulose nanocrystals within hydrogels had a strong reinforcing effect, essentially increasing the modulus and limiting the amount of swelling.…”