| Summary: | Polymer blends, mixing functional materials with polymer matrices, have been considered an
effective material design concept. It not only maintains the flexibility of polymer substrates
but also endows novel functions to the sample. Water Swellable Rubber (WSR) is a typical
polymer blend, which is formed by hybrid hydrophilic materials with polymer. The formed
polymer composites have demonstrated many merits, such as high swelling capacity and rate,
cost-effectiveness, so they have been utilized in multiple applications, including water-blocking cables and pipes to prevent water intrusion, sealing of concrete joints and cracks to
prevent water penetration. However, there are still existing some limitations for conventional
WSR, i.e., limited swelling capacity and slow swelling rate. In this study, we design a novel
WSR with larger swelling ratio and high mechanical stiffness via introducing some soluble
powders, e.g., sodium chloride (NaCl) and calcium chloride (CaCl2) into polymer matrix.
Moreover, the effect of dimension and concentration of these soluble powders in the polymer
composite were systematically investigated. We noticed that the sample exhibits different
swelling ratio when the particle size, concentration and environment vary after soaking in
deionized (DI) water. The rational explanation for above swelling is that the osmosis and
capillary forces interactions with both filler and silicone substrate. Based on our results, we
can obtain various swollen polymer samples by regulating the size, concentration, and
environment of the soluble particles in the blend system. This study investigated the impact of
particle size and concentration, which is a crucial processing factor, on polymer swelling,
surface roughness, and mechanical properties.
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