2.5 Swelling Studies
Samples 20mm in diameter and 3mm in thickness were pre-pared. Equilibrium swelling measurements in distilled water were performed on both porous and nonporous samples to determine the influence of porosity, on the hydrogel sorption capability. Swelling properties such as mass swelling ratio (S) and percentage of equilibrium water content (%EWC) were determined with the following equations: