Non-Aqueous Polymer Gels with Broad Temperature Performance

A gel is a physically or chemically cross-linked polymer that is highly swollen with solvent. While significant work has focused on aqueous hydrogels for biotechnology applications, hydrogels suffer from a limited operating temperature range due to the moderate freezing point and high volatility of water. In this work, a non-aqueous, chemically cross-linked polybutadiene gel has been designed that exhibits stable properties over a temperature range of -70 to 70 degrees C. A combination of swelling experiments, rheology, neutron scattering, and tack adhesion testing was utilized to characterize the gel properties over a broad range of temperatures. The methodology utilized to design the polybutadiene gel can be generalized to different gel materials and applications.