Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Journal of Chemistry
Volume 2014, Article ID 281063, 8 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/281063

Research Article
Modeling and Investigation of the Swelling Kinetics of
Acrylamide-Sodium Acrylate Hydrogel

Azmi Seyhun Kipcak, Osman Ismail, Ibrahim Doymaz, and Sabriye Piskin
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Yildiz Technical University,
Davutpasa Campus, Davutpasa Street No. 127, Esenler, 34210 Istanbul, Turkey

Correspondence should be addressed to Azmi Seyhun Kipcak; seyhunkipcak@gmail.com

Received 17 May 2014; Accepted 9 July 2014; Published 13 August 2014

Academic Editor: Nurettin Sahiner

Copyright © 2014 Azmi Seyhun Kipcak et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.

The acrylamide-sodium acrylate hydrogel was synthesized by free radical polymerization of the method of solution polymerization.
Dynamic swelling tests were conducted at 25, 40, and 60∘ C temperatures, in order to investigate the swelling properties of the
synthesized hydrogel. The results have shown that swelling content and swelling rate of the hydrogel increase with increasing the
swelling water temperature. The diffusivity values changed from 1.81 × 10−7 to 2.97 × 10−7 m2 s−1 over the temperature range.
The activation energies were found as 3.56, 3.71, and 3.86 kJ mol−1 at 25, 40, and 60∘ C, respectively. The experimental drying
curves obtained were fitted to a three different models, namely, Peleg’s, first-order absorption kinetic, and exponential association
equation models. All the models applied provided a good agreement with the experimental data with high values of the coefficient
of determination (𝑅2 ), the least values of the reduced chi-square (𝜒2 ), and root mean square error (RMSE). Comparing the
determination of coefficient, reduced chi-square, and root mean square error values of three models, it was concluded that the
exponential association equation model represents swelling characteristics better than the others.

1. Introduction separation processes, controlled drug delivery systems, space

technology, and extraction of precious metals [3–7].
Hydrogels are rigid, hydrophilic macromolecules which can The pH and temperature-sensitive hydrogels are being
absorb minimum 20% water of their weight. Hydrogels are used for various applications including controlled drug deliv-
known as hydrophilic network structured polymers having ery system and immobilized enzyme systems. According
hydrophilic functional groups such as hydroxyl, carboxylic to the literature, swelling and deswelling behavior of the
acid, and amines. Hydrogels can swell within a period of time gels were affected by the temperature, solvent composition,
in the appropriate solvents. This type of cross-linked polymer electric field, ionic strength, and pH [8–11].
swollen state hydrogels is called “gel.” Due to their hydrophilic Heat-swellable hydrogels can be synthesized by using
properties hydrogels can absorb significant amounts of water hydrophilic monomers such as AAm, AA, and MAA.
and are characterized as their nonsolubility properties. They Besides thermal contractible hydrogels can be synthesized
can swell to an equilibrium value without losing its shape by using N-methylacrylamide and N,N-dimethylacrylamide
[1, 2]. monomers [12].
Due to the mentioned properties of hydrogels a very In temperature-sensitive hydrogels at least one of the
wide range of application areas are present, such as high components forming the polymer system in the solvent
swelling capacity and lack of toxicity and biocompatibility; medium (usually water) must have a temperature-dependent
these hydrogels are used for many applications including dis- solubility. In order to obtain a temperature-sensitive hydrogel
posable diapers, absorbent pads, controlled release fertilizers showing a marked change in the degree of swelling in
in agricultural areas, water blocking tapes, feminine napkins, water, the components must be insoluble below or above
2 Journal of Chemistry

a certain temperature. This volume change observed in a dehydrating agent against the water inside the gel. Sodium
the temperature of the polymer chain components of the acrylate (C3 H3 NaO2 ) was synthesized in the laboratory. In
hydrogel is reversible depending on the degree of ionization. the experiments, a digital balance of model BB3000 Metler-
Temperature sensitive hydrogels exhibit a “lower critical Toledo (Switzerland), a vacuum oven of model BINDER
solution temperature” (LCST) behavior. Below the LCST, (Tuttlingen, Germany), and Heidolph MR Hei-Standart (Ger-
these hydrogels are swollen in water. As the temperature is many) magnetic stirrer with heater were used.
increased above LCST, it undergoes abrupt changes in volume
and shrinks quickly [13, 14]. 2.2. Preparation of the Sodium Acrylate. Sodium hydroxide
In all the above applications, the amount of water (0.5 moles of NaOH) solution was prepared using distilled
absorption and retention properties is most important. High water. Then the solution was taken in a conical flask in dry
swelling rate is an important property of hydrogels. They ether and titrated with 0.1 mole of acrylic acid (C3 H4 O2 ).
mainly need several hours to reach maximum absorption After the titration process a white solid was separated out,
capacity. The slow swelling of dried hydrogels is due to the filtered under a vacuum pump, and dried in a vacuum
slow diffusion of water into the glassy matrix of the dried desiccator. The formation scheme of the sodium acrylate is
hydrogels [15–17]. Poly(acrylamide) (PAAm) is an important shown as follows [25]:
and hydrophilic polymer for preparation of hydrogels [18].
For this reason, in recent years by researchers, several studies CH2 = CHCOOH + NaOH 󳨀→ CH2
were conducted in order to modify the chemical and physical (1)
= CHCOONa + H2 O.
properties of P(AAM). In the preparation of acrylamide-
based hydrogels, there are a number of studies containing
sodium acrylate, crotonic acid, maleic acid, and so forth used 2.3. Synthesis of Cross-linked (AAm/SA) Hydrogel. In this
as hydrophilic monomers [19, 20]. study, cross-linked acrylamide-sodium acrylate hydrogel was
The kinetics of swelling and shrinking of gels is the- synthesized by free radical solution polymerization of AAm
oretically generalized and experimentally studied. A new monomer in aqueous solution. A series of hydrogels were
relation, in addition to the differential equation developed by prepared by the following procedure.
Tanaka et al., is formulated to solve the kinetics of gels having MBA were used for cross-linkers in the hydrogel syn-
arbitrary shape. Using new theory, they provided explicit thesis. For the synthesis of AAm/SA hydrogel, after many
solutions for long cylinder and large disk gels [21, 22]. preexperiments also from the study of Ismail et al. [26],
In the literature Tanaka and Filmore [21] constructed a the synthesis procedure was determined. According to the
kinetic model of the absorbent gels swelling. After this study procedure, 1 g of AAm monomer and 80 mg SA were dis-
Li and Tanaka [22] added new approaches about the swelling solved in 8 mL distilled water; then 0.0777 mmol of MBA
and shrinking of gels which were then implemented by many was added, which is 1% of the monomer. 1 mL/0.219 mmol
researchers [23, 24]. APS was added from the 5 g/100 mL APS solution and
In this study, the acrylamide-sodium acrylate hydrogel 1 mL/0.086 mmol TMEDA was added from the 1% TMEDA
was synthesized. The swelling characteristics (swelling con- solution. The prepared solution was poured into a 3-mm-
tent, swelling rate, diffusion of water, and activation energy) diameter glass tube and held for the gelling process with
of hydrogels were investigated based on the swelling values nitrogen medium.
obtained at different temperatures. In the literature, several Synthesized hydrogel was removed from the glass tube
researches and models were conducted about the absorbent and put into distilled water for the washing process. After
gels swelling kinetics. As an alternative to these models, three the washing process, the hydrogel was dried firstly at room
different models, which were never used in this study field, temperature and then in the vacuum oven at a temperature
are used for the swelling characteristics. These mentioned of 40∘ C.
models are Peleg, exponential association equation model, The formation scheme of the hydrogel is given in Figure 1.
and first-order absorption kinetic model. Using these models,
best fitted model for the swelling kinetics was determined 2.4. Swelling Content. The quantitative figures of swelling
from the experimental data. content were calculated as follows:
𝑤 − 𝑤𝑑
𝑆= 𝑠 , (2)
2. Materials and Methods 𝑤𝑑
where 𝑆 is the swelling content (g/g d.b), 𝑤𝑠 is weight of the
2.1. Materials. Acrylamide (AAm) was purchased from
swollen hydrogel at time 𝑡, and 𝑤𝑑 is the weight of the original
Merck, Schuchardt, Germany, and used as a monomer.
󸀠 dry hydrogel.
The N,N -methylenebisacrylamide (MBA, Fluka, analytical
grade) was used as cross-linking agent. The redox initia-
2.5. Swelling Rate. Change in swelling content per unit of
tor system that comprised ammonium per sulfate initiator
time in hydrogels is called “swelling rate” of the hydrogel and
(APS, Merck, Darmstadt, Germany, analytical grade) and the
󸀠 󸀠 is calculated using
activator N,N,N ,N -tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA)
were supplied by Merck (Schuchardt, analytical grade). 𝑆𝑡+Δ𝑡 − 𝑆𝑡
𝑆𝑅 = , (3)
Methanol (MeOH, BDH, commercial grade) was used as Δ𝑡
Journal of Chemistry 3

O O O O

+ H2 C +
NH2 ONa N N
H H
AAm Sodium acrylate N-N󳰀 -methylenebisacrylamide
SO4 −
O O O O O

Na+ Na+
−
C NH2 C O NH2 C NH2 C O−
H2 H H2 H2 H2 H2 H2 H2 H
C C C C C C C C C C C C C C
H H H H H

O C NH O C NH

CH2 O O O O CH2
Na+ Na+ H
O C NH C NH2 C O− C NH2 C O − N C O
H2 H2 H2 H2 H H2 H2
C C C CH C C C C C C C C C C
H H H H H2 H

C NH

Figure 1: Preparation of cross-linked (AAm/SA) hydrogel.

where 𝑆𝑡 is the swelling content at any time (g/g d.b.) and 𝑆𝑡+Δ𝑡 found by the equation obtained from the arrangement of
represents the swelling content based on the dry content at Fick’s II law and given as [29]
“𝑡 + Δ𝑡.”
𝑘 1/𝑛
𝐷 = 𝜋𝑟2 ( ) , (5)
2.6. Diffusion of Water. The most basic law of Fick’s is used 4
for the explanation of swelling kinetics and diffusion of the
polymeric structures. Swelling kinetics of the polymers can where “𝐷” represents the coefficient of diffusion as “m2 s−1 ”
be given by Peppas et al. [27, 28]: and “𝑟” represents the swollen gels radius as “m.”

𝑆𝑡 2.7. Activation Energy. The dependence of the diffusivity

𝐹= = 𝑘𝑡𝑛 , (4) coefficient on temperature is often given by an Arrhenius type
𝑆𝑒
equation [30]:

where “𝐹” represents the swelling fraction, “𝑆𝑒 ” is the equi- −𝐸𝑎
𝐷 = 𝐷0 exp ( ), (6)
librium swelling content of hydrogel, “𝑛” is the diffusion 𝑅 (𝑇 + 273.15)
exponential of the solvent, and 𝑘 is the constant that changes
according to the gels network structure. where 𝐷0 is the preexponential factor of Arrhenius equation
In order to identify the type of the diffusion, the param- (m2 s−1 ), 𝐸𝑎 is the activation energy (kJ mol−1 ), 𝑇 is temper-
eter of “𝑛” must be known. Diffusion exponential of “𝑛” can ature of water (K−1 ), and 𝑅 is the universal gas constant of
be estimated from the slope of a line obtained from lnF-lnt 8.314 × 10−3 (kJ mol−1 K−1 ).
graph data of the region where the swelling has not yet reach
the equilibrium only 60% of the solvent mass enters in the 2.8. Mathematical Modeling of Absorption Kinetics. In this
structure of gels. study, the methods that are developed from different
Another important parameter for the examination of researchers, Peleg’s model (7), first-order absorption kinetic
the swelling kinetics is the coefficient of diffusion. For the model (8), and the exponential association equation (9), were
cylindrical type of structures the coefficient of “𝐷” can be used [31–33].
4 Journal of Chemistry

50

Swelling content (g water/g dry hydrogel)

Peleg proposed a two-parameter model to describe water
80

(g water/g dry hydrogel)

absorption by grains [31]:

Swelling content
60
40 40
𝑡 20
𝑆 = 𝑆𝑜 ± , (7) 0
𝑘1 + 𝑘2 𝑡 30 8 13 18 23 28
where 𝑆𝑜 is the swelling content at 𝑡 = 0 (g/g d.b.), 𝑆 is the Time (h)
20
swelling content at any time (g/g d.b.), 𝑡 is the swelling time
(s), 𝑘1 is the kinetic constant of the model (h(g d.b.)/g), and
𝑘2 is a characteristic constant of the model (g d.b.)/g). In (7), 10
“±” becomes “+” if the process is absorption or adsorption
and “−” if the process is drying or desorption. 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
In the first-order absorption kinetic model, the equation
used is of the following form [34, 35]: Time (h)

25∘ C
𝑆 = 𝑆𝑒 + (𝑆𝑜 − 𝑆𝑒 ) exp (−𝑘𝑅1 𝑡) , (8) 40∘ C
60∘ C
where 𝑘𝑅1 is the swelling kinetic constant (h−1 ). Consider
Figure 2: Swelling of hydrogel as a function of time at different
𝑆 = 𝑆𝑒 [1 − exp (−𝑘𝑅2 𝑡)] , (9) temperatures.

where 𝑘𝑅2 is the kinetic constant (h−1 ).

2.9. Statistical Analysis. The statistical analysis of experimen- weighted after taking the surface moisture at specific time
tal data was determined using Statistica 6.0 software (Statsoft intervals. Then using the weights the swelling kinetics were
Inc., Tulsa, OK), which is based on the Levenberg-Marquardt investigated.
algorithm. The three criteria (𝑅2 , 𝜒2 , and RMSE) of statistical From the results obtained the hydrogel swelling came
analysis have been used to evaluate the adjustment of the to equilibrium value at the end of 28 hours. The swelling
experimental data to the different models. 𝜒2 and RMSE equilibrium values for the hydrogel were found as 30.19, 47.18,
parameters can be calculated as and 74.07 g water/g dry hydrogel for the temperatures of 25,
40, and 60∘ C, respectively.
2
∑𝑁 The swelling content, 𝑆 (g/g d.b.), was calculated using (2).
2 𝑖=1 (SRexp,𝑖 − SRpre,𝑖 )
𝜒 = , From these values, the 𝑆-𝑡 graph was drawn and the swelling
𝑁−𝑧 isotherms were constructed, shown in Figure 2.
(10)
1/2 The swelling content of the hydrogels was higher at the
1 𝑁 2
RMSE = [ ∑ (SRpre,𝑖 − SRexp,𝑖 ) ] , first 8 hours so the kinetic studies were conducted at these
𝑁 𝑖=1 values. As seen from Figure 2, the hydrogels swelling contents
at the three different temperatures are very high at the first 8
where SRexp,𝐼 and SRpre,𝐼 are the experimental and predicted hours.
dimensionless SR (swelling rate), respectively, 𝑁 is the After the 8th hour, the swelling content was gradually
number of data values, and 𝑧 is the number of constants increased. Since the kinetic studies were done within the first
of the models. The best model describing the swelling 8 hours, the other swelling content values were given in the
characteristics of hydrogels was chosen as the one with the small graph inside the Figure 2.
highest 𝑅2 and the least 𝜒2 and RMSE [36]. From Figure 2, the swelling content values of 21.4, 29.9,
and 47.6 g water/g dry hydrogel were seen at the different
3. Results and Discussion temperatures of 25, 40, and 60∘ C, respectively.
The hydrogel swelling content increases with increasing
3.1. Swelling Curves. Swelling is one of the important param- temperatures as seen from Figure 2. The swelling value at
eters in the characterization of the cross-linked hydrogels. 60∘ C is twice as big as the value at 25∘ C. It is possible to say
Swelling tests at the temperatures of 25, 40, and 60∘ C were that the H-bonds inside the hydrogels were broken due to
conducted using the hydrogel of acrylamide (AAm)/sodium temperature rise and thus increase the amount of swelling.
acrylate (SA). Also the increase in swelling value with increasing temper-
The starting water contents of the hydrogels were deter- ature of the hydrogel might be caused by the increase in
mined as 0.0078 g water/g dry hydrogel. One gram of thermal mobility of polymer molecules inside the hydrogels
hydrogels on the dry basis was weighed and put inside the [37].
beaker with the 100 mL distilled water inside for swelling. Uzum et al. [38] synthesized acrylamide (AAm)/(SA)
Temperatures were controlled with the Heidolph magnetic of sodium acrylate hydrogels from two different types of
stirrer and heater with temperature controller unit. The initial cross-linkers, by changing the sodium acrylate monomer
time (𝑡 = 0) is set and the weights of the hydrogels were concentration. They investigated the swelling ratio change
Journal of Chemistry 5

10 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
0
Swelling rate (g water/(g dry hydrogel h))

−1
6

ln F
4
−2

0 −3
0 10 20 30 40 50 ln t
Swelling content (g water/g dry hydrogel)
25∘ C
25∘ C 40∘ C
40∘ C 60∘ C
60∘ C
Figure 4: Swelling kinetic curves for hydrogel at different tempera-
Figure 3: Swelling rate curves for hydrogel at different temperatures. tures.

of the synthesized hydrogels by changing the cross linker (𝑛) are in between 0.938 and 0.997. These swelling exponent
types and of sodium acrylate monomer concentrations. They values indicate that the transport of all super absorbent
reported that hydrogels swelling ratio is increased with the polymers was of non-Fickian character. The values for 𝑘
increasing concentrations of sodium acrylate monomer and and 𝑅2 varied between 6.15–6.83 and 0.984–0.997 for all the
cross-linkers. experimental conditions, respectively. Diffusion coefficient
Mohan et al. [39] synthesized a superabsorbent copoly- (𝐷) is one of the major parameters to determine the swelling
mer acrylamide-sodium methacrylate and concluded that the characterization of the hydrogel, and it is calculated by using
copolymers swelling ratios are increased by the increasing (5). The values of diffusion coefficient determined for the
sodium methacrylate concentration. hydrogel are listed in Table 1. As seen in Table 1, the diffusion
Figure 3 shows the hydrogels swelling rate change accord- coefficients increase by increasing temperature. The diffusion
ing to the swelling content. As seen in Figure 3, the swelling coefficient was obtained with the dried hydrogel as 1.81 ×
rates and swelling content are increased with the increasing 10−7 , 2.07 × 10−7 , and 2.97 × 10−7 m2 s−1 at 25, 40, and 60∘ C,
temperature. From the experiments that are done in the respectively.
60∘ C temperature, the maximum swelling content is found
as 18.93 g water/g dry hydrogel that corresponds to a swelling
rate of 8.9 g water/g dry hydrogel h. Simply in the 40∘ C and 3.3. Calculation of the Activation Energy. The calculated
25∘ C temperature the maximum swelling contents are found diffusivities were plotted as a function of the absolute water-
as 13.20 and 9.97 g water/g dry hydrogel that correspond to swelling temperature (Figure 5). The plot was found to be
a swelling rate of 5.22 and 5.21 g water/g dry hydrogel h, essentially a straight line in the range of temperatures investi-
respectively. gated, indicating Arrhenius dependence. From the intercept
of the straight line described by the Arrhenius equation, 𝐷0
is calculated as 2.05 × 10−5 m2 s−1 . Using (6) the activation
3.2. Calculation of Diffusion Coefficients. Fick’s laws are the
energies are found as 3.56, 3.71, and 3.86 kJ mol−1 at 25, 40,
common laws used to explain water diffusion into the dried
and 60∘ C, respectively.
hydrogel and its diffusion type [40].
The mechanisms of water diffusion into the swelled
hydrogel were investigated by (4). The plots of ln 𝐹 versus ln 𝑡 3.4. Evaluation of the Models. To describe the swelling
were obtained through the logarithmic form of (4), and these kinetics of hydrogel on different temperatures (25, 40, and
graphs are given in Figure 4. The values of 𝑛, 𝑘 and regression 60∘ C), three empirical models, namely, Peleg’s, first-order,
coefficients were calculated from the slopes and the intercepts and exponential association equation, are used, and all of
of the plots of ln 𝐹 against ln 𝑡, respectively, and are given in them provided a good agreement with the experimental data.
Table 1. The constants, 𝑅2 , 𝜒2 , and RMSE values of the models are
Equation (4) is valid for the first 60% of the fractional estimated and given in Table 2.
uptake. The Fick’s diffusion transport is defined by n and this As it can be seen from Table 2, the kinetic rate constant 𝑘1
value is used for determining the diffusion type [41]. Fickian and the characteristic constant 𝑘2 of the Peleg’s model and the
diffusion and Case II transport are defined by 𝑛 values of 0.5 scale parameter (𝑘𝑅1 and 𝑘𝑅2 ) of first-order and exponential
and 1.0, respectively. The calculated swelling exponent values association models are changed inversely proportional to
6 Journal of Chemistry

0.0029 0.0030 0.0031 0.0032 0.0033 0.0034 The 𝑘1 and 𝑘2 values obtained are found as 0.293712 and
−14.8
0.007808 at 25∘ C, 0.243454 and 0.002637 at 40∘ C, and
0.160218 and 0.000409 at 60∘ C. Also, Maskan [42] and
−15 Solomon [43] have reported that high water absorption
capacity is correlated with the low 𝑘1 and 𝑘2 values.
From the investigation of 𝑅2 , 𝜒2 , and RMSE, it was
−15.2 y = −1420.7x − 10.793
R2 = 0.9575 seen that the 𝑅2 value is almost as “1”; RMSE and 𝜒2 are
ln(D)

the minimum at the model of exponential association. Also

−15.4 the values given in Table 2 are very close to each other. At
the mentioned temperatures the calculated values by the
exponential association fit the experimental values at best.
−15.6 The 𝑅2 values were calculated as 0.9894, 0.9940, and 0.9988
at the temperatures of 25, 40, and 60∘ C, respectively.
−15.8 In Figure 6, the experimental values are compared with
1/(T + 273.15) (1/K) the predicted values obtained from the exponential associa-
Figure 5: Arrhenius-type relationship between effective diffusivity
tion model for the first 8 hours of hydration.
coefficient and temperature. As seen from Figure 6, the predicted swelling values for
the hydrogel based upon the exponential association model
are in good agreement with the experimental values.
50
Swelling content (g water/g dry hydrogel)

40 4. Conclusions
In this study, the acrylamide-sodium acrylate hydrogel was
30
synthesized and the effect of temperature on the swelling
kinetics of hydrogel was investigated. The swelling equilib-
20 rium values for the hydrogel were found as 30.19, 47.18, and
74.07 g water/g dry hydrogel for the temperatures of 25, 40,
10
and 60∘ C, respectively. As the temperature increased hydro-
gels swelling content and swelling rate were also increased.
The physical properties of the hydrogel (LCST and
0 swelling) and thermal properties depend on the proper-
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
ties and amount of the monomers used in the synthesis.
Time (h)
Therefore, a hydrogel can be arranged to absorb high water
25∘ C capacities by changing the monomer properties (variation
40∘ C and amount). In this study synthesized hydrogel’s LCST is
60∘ C found as 60∘ C. At that temperature the water absorption
Predicted
capacity of the hydrogel increases. After the temperature of
Figure 6: Hydrogel swelling content values for both experimental 60∘ C hydrogels have shrunk by giving their absorbed water.
and predicted values based upon to the exponential association The values of calculated diffusion coefficients ranged
model. from 1.81 × 10−7 to 2.97 × 10−7 m2 s−1 . The swelling rate and
effective diffusivity increase with air temperature increases
(consequently swelling content increased), where, in the
Table 1: Values of swelling coefficients of dried hydrogel.
study of Aktas et al. [24], diffusion constants were found to
Swelling temperature (∘ C) be in the range of 0.37 × 10−9 − 4.00 × 10−9 m2 s−1 , which are
Coefficients
25 40 60 considerably smaller than our study. The difference between
literature values and our study most probably originates from
𝑛 0.997 0.938 0.981
the solvents at which the gels were swelled.
𝑘 × 102 6.83 6.93 6.15 Temperature dependence of the diffusivity coefficients
𝑅2 0.984 0.985 0.997 was described by Arrhenius-type relationship. The activation
𝐷 × 107 1.81 2.07 2.97 energies are found as 3.56, 3.71, and 3.86 kJ mol−1 at 25, 40,
and 60∘ C, respectively.
In order to determine the water content uptake as a
the temperature. In other words, it can also be seen from the function of swelling time, three different models were exam-
models that 𝑘1 , 𝑘2 , 𝑘𝑅1 , and 𝑘𝑅2 values are reduced by the ined, and all these models provided a good agreement with
increase in temperature. the experimental data; however, the exponential association
The data obtained from the Peleg model showed that equation model was chosen as the appropriate model to
the least 𝑘1 and 𝑘2 values are obtained at 60∘ C temperature. represent the swelling kinetics of hydrogels.
Journal of Chemistry 7

Table 2: Estimated parameters of the models used for various swelling temperatures.

Peleg’s model
Temperature (∘ C) 𝑘1 𝑘2 𝑅2 RMSE 𝜒2
25 0.293712 0.007808 0.9889 2.48790 0.63632
40 0.243454 0.002637 0.9894 3.62427 1.16706
60 0.160218 0.000409 0.9988 2.46038 0.58306
First-order rehydration kinetic model
Temperature (∘ C) 𝑘𝑅1 𝑅2 RMSE 𝜒2
25 0.0486 0.9891 2.44348 0.58668
40 0.0288 0.9941 3.62423 1.09429
60 0.0136 0.9987 2.46411 0.58774
Exponential association model
Temperature (∘ C) 𝑘𝑅2 𝑅2 RMSE 𝜒2
25 0.0506 0.9894 2.38588 0.56817
40 0.0310 0.9940 3.60784 1.09205
60 0.0135 0.9988 2.46025 0.58046

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