Curing Conditions of Poly(vinyl Alcohol) and Propeties of Film Based on Cured Poly(vinyl Alcohol)

This paper reports the use of glutaraldehyde for crosslinking poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), a biodegradable synthetic polymer, to improve its water resistance and mechanical strength to expand its application. Factors affecting the curing process including glutaraldehyde (GA) content, catalyst content, temperature and curing time have been investigated. The results show that the best curing conditions are: the weight ratio of GA to PVA: 1/100; the weight ratio of catalyst to PVA: 3.5/100, curing temperature of 90oC and curing time of 7 hours. PVA film after curing has less water sorption; the water vapor transmission through the film also decreases, tensile strength, heat resistance are improved