Study of the universality class of the gel network system

Abstract

The critical isobar and the specific heatC v of the N‐isopropylacrylamide gel along the critical isobar have been measured. Two critical exponents were obtained from which the conventionally defined exponents are derived. Kinetics of the temperature relaxation process was also studied, which showed an anomaly near the critical point. Fisher renormalization of the critical exponents was observed in the specific heat experiment. The experimental results indicate that the gel system is in the Ising universality class.