The objective to prepare a PVA film with high tensile
strength and hydrophobic properties via the crosslinking
reaction and OH group removal was achieved using PAA
and glyoxal as crosslinking agent and OH remover, respectively.
PAA was selected as a crosslinking agent because
it has a functional carboxyl group in each monomer unit
to react with PVA. In addition, to remove OH groups of
unreacted PVA, glyoxal was added to the PVA/PAA solution.
Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric
analysis (TGA) of the PVA/PAA/glyoxal films