The polymer hydrogel was synthesized by photo-polymerization process (UV light, 60 O C) in presence of Photo-initiator (Irgacure R ) and Cross-linker (NN'-methylene bisacrylamide; MBAM). In the present work, the drying of polymer hydrogel was carried out to study the effect of temperature, gel-sheet thickness, monomer ratio of acryl acid to acrylamide (AA/AM), concentration of MBAM and quantity of monomers. A correlation has been developed for modified sheet thickness as a function of

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... n coefficient and degree of drying. Effective diffusivity was estimated from Fickian-diffusive model considering modified sheet thickness and was found to be in the range of 1.1 × 10 -10 -5.93 × 10 -10 m 2 /s. The activation energy obtained using Arrhenius type equation was found to be in the range of 2979-10737 kJ/kmol H 2 O. The drying behavior shows an initial shoot-up in drying rate followed by constant rate and two falling rate periods.