Applications of NMR imaging to the time-dependent swelling effect in polymers

The swelling process is often observed in many polymers of interest and is an important phenomenon for the understanding of many biopolymers. This important process, however, is known as poorly understood in the area in polymer science. One of the reasons is that the conventional method of examining the swelling process is often inconsistent. Since it has many important properties including non-invasiveness, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Micro-imaging has become a significant method of analyzing biomaterials as well as biological specimens [1,2]. In the present study, a time-dependent swelling process was observed non-invasively to investigate the polymeric swelling effect using NMR micro-imaging. The present study provides a noble and non-invasive method of measuring the degree of swelling as well as volumetric changes occurring in polymers immersed in liquid. The information obtained relates to both a water ingress process and volumetric changes of polymer specimens. This proposed method also will provide more reliable techniques to ascertain the time-dependent swelling process than the other conventional methods. One of the important aspects of the present study is that the proposed method is a non-invasive technique and is also capable of ascertaining the time-dependent process of the swelling. This may be a new method of measuring the degree of swelling as well as the time-dependent water ingress process in a polymer.