Recrystallization of water in a non-water-soluble polymer examined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy: poly(2-methoxyethylacrylate) with low water content.

Crystallization of water during heating, the so-called "recrystallization of water", in poly(2-methoxyethylacrylate) (PMEA) was investigated by temperature-variable Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Recrystallization in a polymer-water system is generally understood to be a phase transition from glassy water (condensed water) to crystalline water. However, infrared spectral changes of the PMEA-water system with low water content indicated that the formation of ice I h during heating occurred by a vapor deposition process rather than by a crystallization process.