Fibrous polymer material and fibrous gel material

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel gel having a fibrous shape and being excellent in physical properties such as toughness and elastic modulus, and a fibrous polymer material for obtaining such a gel. A fibrous polymer material having anisotropic swellability in water, including: a network structure in which a crystalline polymer containing a polyvinyl alcohol skeleton in a main chain is crosslinked, wherein the fibrous polymer material simultaneously exhibits following a) to c) in an equilibrium swelling state in water, and simultaneously exhibits following d) and e) from a dry state (static crystal stabilized state) to an equilibrium swelling state in water. a) an orientation of 80% or more, the orientation as measured by wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) b) a water content of 20 to 70% c) a crystallinity of 5 to 30% d) a deformation rate of 75 to 120% in a long axis direction of a fibrous structure e) a deformation rate of 120 to 200% in a short axis direction of a fibrous structure

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.