Effects of annealing and the addition of PEG on the PVA based hydrogel by gamma ray

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is an interesting material with good biocompatibility, high elasticity and hydrophilic characteristics. PVA hydrogels have been formed through chemical crosslinking with aldehyde, photopolymerization and physical crosslinking with freeze-thawing. In this study, crosslinked hydrogels based on PVA, and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) were prepared by gamma-ray irradiation, and then annealed at 120 °C. The properties of a hydrogel such as gel fraction, swelling behavior, gel strength as a function of PEG content and annealing time were investigated. Also, the thermal behaviors were examined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The gel fraction decreases with an increase in PEG content and decrease in annealing time. The tensile strength increases with an increase in annealing time. The thermal behaviors have shown different patterns according to the annealing time. The improved properties suggest that PVA/PEG blend hydrogel can be a good candidate for applications in the articular cartilage.