Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-2017
Capstone Advisor
Michelle Blum
Honors Reader
Shalabh Maroo
Capstone Major
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Capstone College
Engineering and Computer Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Sciences and Engineering
Subject Categories
Mechanical Engineering
Abstract
Hydrogels are a biomaterial that have potential for a variety of different biomedical applications. However, these hydrogels often have poor friction and wear properties. This document investigates the stability of a proposed method to resolve this limitation. The proposed solution is a blend of a biocompatible polymer, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with different concentrations of the zwitterionic polymer, polymer Poly([2-(methacryloyloxy) ethyl] dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl) ammonium hydroxide) p(MEDSAH). Previous analysis has shown that the pMEDSAH acted as a boundary lubricant, resulting in a reduction of the coefficient of friction. The pMEDSAH was successfully synthesized at three different molecular weights and a significantly higher contact modulus was seen at the lower molecular weight. As well, a hydration dehydration study and a degradation study were performed. Both of these studies resulted in an increase in the coefficient of friction, indicating that the pMEDSAH was diffusing out of the hydrogel. If this simple processing method is used in biomedical devices, a packaging method will need to be developed to prevent this. However, this approach provides a promising platform for further increasing the boundary lubricant properties of hydrogels.
Recommended Citation
Lindberg, Emily, "Synthesis and characterization of tribologically enhanced hydrogels" (2017). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 1039.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/1039
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
