Radiation Induced Superabsorbent Hydrogels. Acrylamide/Itaconic Acid Copolymers

Abstract

Acrylamide/itaconic acid hydrogels in the form of rods are prepared by γ-irradiation of ternary mixtures of acrylamide/itaconic acid/water with 2.00–5.71 kGy γ-rays. Spectroscopic and thermal characterization of the copolymers were examined. Dynamic and equilibrium swelling behavior of superabsorbent acrylamide/itaconic acid hydrogels was investigated in water. The equilibrium swelling degree, the swelling rate coefficient, the diffusion constant, the diffusion exponent, the diffusion coefficient, and the intrinsic diffusion coefficient of acrylamide/itaconic acid hydrogels were calculated. The superabsorbent hydrogels have shown mass swelling capabilities in the range 650–700% (for polyacrylamide hydrogels) and 900–2100% (for acrylamide-itaconic acid hydrogels). Diffusion type of the hydrogels is non-Fickian diffusion. The equilibrium swelling studies were used to determine important parameters of the crosslinked structure of the hydrogels, including the average molar mass between crosslinks and crosslink density.