Swelling and solubility characteristics of polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinyl alcohol–acetate copolymers in liquid water have been examined. For a given species, swellings are found to be variable in a continuum of metastable states depending on the previous history of the polymer. Changes in swelling are induced in a predictable manner by treatments such as humidification. Changes are interpreted in terms of cumulative secondary bond cross‐linkages arising from the development of microcrystalline regions within the gel.
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W. J. Priest (1951) studied this question.
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