Acrylamide-crotonic acid hydrogels in the form of rods are prepared by gamma-irradiation of quaternary mixtures of acrylamide-crotonic acid-crosslinker-water with 2.6 and 5.2 kGy gamma-rays. The influence of the applied dose, the relative content of crotonic acid and crosslinkers such as ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, 1.4 butanediol dimethacrylate and N,N＇ methylenebisacrylamide on the swelling properties of the gel, the diffusional behaviour of water, the diffusion coefficient: and the network parameters of hydrogel systems are examined. Acrylamide-crotonic acid hydrogels containing various crosslinkers had a maximum swelling in the range 240-850 %. Water diffusion to hydrogels was non-Fickian. The diffusion coefficients varied between 4.6 x 10(-7) and 9.1 x 10(-7) cm(2) s(-1).