SYNTHESIS AND CHATACTERIZATION OF ACRYLONITRILE INCORPORATED PVA BASED SEMI-INTER PENETRATING POLYMERIC NETWORKS

The ever increasing use of polymers in our day to day life has given rise to quest for developing polymeric materials suitable for various applications. The content work aims to synthesize a novel semi-IPN in the form of hydrogel comprising of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and acrylonitrile (AN), in various proportions, by redox polymerization method in the presence of N, N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker and potassium persulphate (KPS) as initiator. Structure formation of the gel matrix has been confirmed by FTIR spectrophotometry. Phase morphology of the semi-IPNs in various proportions has been studied with scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction technique has been utilized to detect the crystalline and amorphous characteristics of the synthesized gels. Water sorption capacity of the specimens have also been studied. IR spectra of the synthesized semi-IPN confirms the formation of a physical gel with polymer chains held to each other via hydrogen bonding. Their SEM images show single phase morphology with a less rough surface indicating a better compatibility of the two polymers. The XRD patterns of synthesized gels indicate that the crystallinity in the membrane is mainly due to PVA and swelling studies proves the approach to be beneficial for various bioengineering and bioindustrial applications