{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/95518"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/95518","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Fabrication and characterization of co-continuous elastomer-hydrogel composites","abstract":"The increasing demand of applications in polymer industry requires new or improved combinations of material properties, which cannot be satisfied by few polymers alone. There has therefore been scientific and industrial interest in mixing two different polymers together to make polymer blends. Of all possible polymer blend morphologies, co-continuous blends are of particular interest due to their unique property of possessing two continuous phases. In this research, a co-continuous structured elastomer-hydrogel composite is fabricated to combine the elasticity of elastomer and the permeability of hydrogel. The stretchable, water permeable composite can be used as a mechanically tunable molecular sieve in drug delivery and tissue engineering. Porous PEO-PDMS elastomer with interconnected microchannels is filled with polyacrylamide hydrogels via a microsphere-templating process. The configuration of the microstructure of the composite is observed and analyzed. Besides, the mechanical properties and diffusivity properties of the composite are experimentally characterized. In general, this research provides experimental bases for designing a new polymer blends of elastomer and hydrogel. It also aids in the creation of guidelines for the analysis of elastomer-hydrogel interactions.","abstract_html":"The increasing demand of applications in polymer industry requires new or improved combinations of material properties, which cannot be satisfied by few polymers alone. There has therefore been scientific and industrial interest in mixing two different polymers together to make polymer blends. Of all possible polymer blend morphologies, co-continuous blends are of particular interest due to their unique property of possessing two continuous phases. In this research, a co-continuous structured elastomer-hydrogel composite is fabricated to combine the elasticity of elastomer and the permeability of hydrogel. The stretchable, water permeable composite can be used as a mechanically tunable molecular sieve in drug delivery and tissue engineering. Porous PEO-PDMS elastomer with interconnected microchannels is filled with polyacrylamide hydrogels via a microsphere-templating process. The configuration of the microstructure of the composite is observed and analyzed. Besides, the mechanical properties and diffusivity properties of the composite are experimentally characterized. In general, this research provides experimental bases for designing a new polymer blends of elastomer and hydrogel. It also aids in the creation of guidelines for the analysis of elastomer-hydrogel interactions.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Zhang, Qian"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Mechanical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Hutchens, Shelby B."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-03-01T16:37:10Z","date_published":"2017-03-01T16:37:10Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:26:37Z","subjects":["elastomer-hydrogel composite","polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)","polyacrylamide hydrogel","stretchability","water permeability","salt diffusivity"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2016 Qian Zhang"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95518","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Hutchens, Shelby B."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Zhang, Qian"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2017-03-01T16:37:10Z","2019-03-02T10:15:27Z","2016-12-08","2016-12"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["elastomer-hydrogel composite","polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)","polyacrylamide hydrogel","stretchability","water permeability","salt diffusivity"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2016 Qian Zhang"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95518"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The increasing demand of applications in polymer industry requires new or improved combinations of material properties, which cannot be satisfied by few polymers alone. There has therefore been scientific and industrial interest in mixing two different polymers together to make polymer blends. Of all possible polymer blend morphologies, co-continuous blends are of particular interest due to their unique property of possessing two continuous phases. In this research, a co-continuous structured elastomer-hydrogel composite is fabricated to combine the elasticity of elastomer and the permeability of hydrogel. The stretchable, water permeable composite can be used as a mechanically tunable molecular sieve in drug delivery and tissue engineering. Porous PEO-PDMS elastomer with interconnected microchannels is filled with polyacrylamide hydrogels via a microsphere-templating process. The configuration of the microstructure of the composite is observed and analyzed. Besides, the mechanical properties and diffusivity properties of the composite are experimentally characterized. In general, this research provides experimental bases for designing a new polymer blends of elastomer and hydrogel. It also aids in the creation of guidelines for the analysis of elastomer-hydrogel interactions.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2018-12-01","The student, Qian Zhang, accepted the attached license on 2016-12-07 at 11:35.","The student, Qian Zhang, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2016-12-07 at 11:49.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2016-12-08 at 08:53.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #10467 on 2017-02-28 at 14:37:36","Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-01T16:37:10Z (GMT). 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There has therefore been scientific and industrial interest in mixing two different polymers together to make polymer blends. Of all possible polymer blend morphologies, co-continuous blends are of particular interest due to their unique property of possessing two continuous phases. In this research, a co-continuous structured elastomer-hydrogel composite is fabricated to combine the elasticity of elastomer and the permeability of hydrogel. The stretchable, water permeable composite can be used as a mechanically tunable molecular sieve in drug delivery and tissue engineering. Porous PEO-PDMS elastomer with interconnected microchannels is filled with polyacrylamide hydrogels via a microsphere-templating process. The configuration of the microstructure of the composite is observed and analyzed. Besides, the mechanical properties and diffusivity properties of the composite are experimentally characterized. In general, this research provides experimental bases for designing a new polymer blends of elastomer and hydrogel. It also aids in the creation of guidelines for the analysis of elastomer-hydrogel interactions.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2018-12-01","The student, Qian Zhang, accepted the attached license on 2016-12-07 at 11:35.","The student, Qian Zhang, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2016-12-07 at 11:49.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2016-12-08 at 08:53.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #10467 on 2017-02-28 at 14:37:36","Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-01T16:37:10Z (GMT). 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