Research article

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A novel post-crosslinking method by heating the composite polymer with dispersed reactive microgels was used to prepare microgel composite (MC) hydrogels. This MC hydrogels were crosslinked by reactive microgels instead of traditional crosslinkers. The reactive microgels contained hydroxymethyl groups, which acted as post-crosslinkers. They were prepared by inverse emulsion polymerization. The formed MC hydrogels at appropriate conditions had high equilibrium swelling ratio and excellent mechanical properties. The heating conditions and the polymer water content influenced the hydrogel properties. For MC hydrogels prepared by direct heating the as-prepared composite polymers with 75% water content, their properties were influenced by heating conditions. When the heating conditions were 90°C for 4 h, the MC hydrogel had a tensile strength of 32 kPa and a high elongation of 960%. In addition, for MC hydrogels prepared by heating the partly evaporated composite polymers, their properties can be adjusted by the polymer water content. Appropriate reduction of the polymer water content was beneficial to improve the mechanical strength of the MC hydrogels. The appropriate polymer water content was important to prepare MC hydrogels with excellent mechanical properties. When the composite polymer with 50% water content was heated at 90°C for 3 h, the MC hydrogel had high tensile strength of 130 kPa and high tensile elongation of 503%.