EFFECTS OF THE CROSS-LINKING STRUCTURE ON THE WATER SORPTION ABILITY OF POLY(VINYL CARBOXYLATE)

Water sorption behavior of four kinds of polymerized vinyl carboxylate, i.e., vinyl benzoate, vinyl methacrylate, vinyl crotonate, and vinyl cinnamate was investigated. The dielectric measurement and quartz crystal microbalance technique were adopted for this purpose. The polymers were hydrophobic and the water sorption ability was enhanced by cross-linking. The dielectric constant of sorbed water was small compared with that of liquid water and the value slightly increased with increasing the amount of sorbed water. The orientation polarization of sorbed water also slightly increased with increasing the amount of sorbed water. It was proved that the cross-linking structure affected the water sorption behavior of the polymer.