Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements were performed on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) gels in a mixture of deuterated dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSOd(6)) and D2O with volume ratio of 60/40 to see the structure changes of the crosslinking points, which are crystallites, and of the gel network during the melting process. The observed SANS intensities were fitted to the Ornstein-Zernike (OZ) formula and a power law in scattering vector Q ranges from 0.01 to 0.035 and 0.05 to 0.1 Angstrom(-1), respectively, to evaluate the correlation length xi and the power law exponent it. It was found that the exponent it is 4 and the correlation length is xi is similar to 150 Angstrom below approximate to70degreesC, suggesting that the crystallite surface is smooth and the average distance between the neighboring crystallites is approximate to150Angstrom. On the other hand, they begin to decrease >70degreesC. The decrease of it suggests that the surface of the crystallites becomes rougher with increasing temperature. As for the correlation length, analyses in terms of distance distribution function suggested that the decrease of xi is apparent, and the intercrystallite distance increases with temperature >70degreesC because the crystallites decrease in number because of melt. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.