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Journal of Polymer & Composites Original Research Special issue

Non-Contact Quantification of Swelling-Induced Deformation in Polymer Hydrogels Using Image Analysis

  1. R. Arangasamy Department of Biomedical Engineering, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai
  2. C. Sridhathan Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, KCG College of Technology, Karapakkam, Chennai
  3. Mohandass G. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai
  4. B. Ram Priya Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai
  5. N.M.G. Kumar Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri M. Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, Bangalore
  6. D. Harika Department of Electronics and Communication, School of Engineering, Mohan Babu University, Tirupati

Abstract

Swelling of polymer hydrogels governs transport, mechanics, and functional performance in biomedical systems, yet it is often reported using bulk ratios that conceal spatially heterogeneous deformation and boundary-driven instabilities. This study presents a non-contact image-analysis framework to quantify swelling-induced deformation by tracking shape and boundary evolution from time-lapse imaging. The approach segments the hydrogel region, extracts a sub-pixel refined contour, and computes boundary displacement descriptors including mean and upper-percentile normal displacement, anisotropy of boundary expansion, and curvature variability. In parallel, geometry-based swelling measures are computed using area and perimeter ratios and compactness to capture both volumetric expansion and boundary complexity. A diffusion-driven deformation model is then fitted directly to image-derived boundary and geometry observables to estimate physically interpretable transport parameters and equilibrium deformation scales. Example results demonstrate stable boundary recovery (IoU ≈ 0.92–0.95; contour RMSE ≈ 18–30 µm), monotonic growth of mean boundary displacement to ~1.16 mm over 120 min, and consistent evolution of swelling ratios (area ratio up to ~1.61; perimeter ratio up to ~1.26), with low model fit error (~0.03 mm) and an effective diffusivity on the order of m²/s. The framework enables reproducible, instrumentation-free swelling quantification suitable for comparative evaluation of hydrogel formulations and conditions.

Keywords

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