A study in the design for comfortable diaper made of functional gel materials

本研究的目的是开发功能凝胶材料的纸尿裤，特别适合老年人使用。以水凝胶膜作为纸尿裤的模型。将聚乙烯醇与戊二醛和一些疏水醛不溶制备凝胶膜。用差示扫描量热仪测定了凝胶膜的盐吸附量和盐渗透率，并研究了膜中水的状态。疏水醛不溶凝胶膜的凝结水是戊二醛交联凝胶膜的2-4倍，膜中醛的引入对膜的吸盐行为有强烈的影响，特别是对由强水合离子组成的盐。本文提出的“两态模型”定量解释了吸盐量。在模型中，假定冻结水和非冻结水表示盐的不同溶解度。这些结果被解释为聚合物和盐之间的相互作用。这些结果被解释为通过水合层的聚合物和离子之间的相互作用。上述具体的相互作用对设计适合老年纸尿裤的功能性凝胶材料具有重要意义。

The object of this study is to develop the diaper of functional gel materials, especially suitable for advanced age. The hydrogel membranes were used as models for diaper. The gel membranes were prepared by insolubilizing poly(vinyl alcohol) with glutaraldehyde and some hydrophobic aldehydes. The amounts of salt sorbed and the salt permeabilites were measured for the gel membranes, and the state of water in the membranes was investigated by means of a differential scanning calorimeter. The gel membrane insolubilized with hydrophobic aldehydes has a freezing water about 2-4 times as much as the membrane crosslinked with glutaraldehyde, and the salt sorption behavior of the membranes was strongly affected by the aldehydes introduced in the membrane especially for the salt composed of strongly hydrated ions. The amounts of salt sorbed were quantitatively explained by the "two state model" proposed in the study. In the model, it is assumed that the freezing and the nonfreezing waters indicate the different solubilities for the salts. These results were interpreted in terms of the interactions between the polymer and the salts. These results were interpreted in terms of the interactions between the polymer and the ions through the hydration layers. The specific interactions as mentioned above is found to be important for designing of functional gel materials for diaper suited for advanced age.