AN EFFECTIVE METHOD TO IMPROVE THE WET STRENGTH OF POLY(DIALLYLDIMETHYL-AMMONIUM CHLORIDE)HYDROGELS

New IPN hydrogels composed of diallyldimethylammonium chloride (DADMAC) and natural macromolecule,kappa-carrageenan (KC) were prepared by gamma irradiation and their properties were studied. The results show that boththe gel strength and the swelling capacity of the IPN hydrogels were enhanced significantly as compared with those of thepure hydrogels of PDADMAC.     

Modified carrageenan 3. Synthesis of a novel polysaccharide-based superabsorbent hydrogel via graft copolymerization of acrylic acid onto kappa-carrageenan in air

A novel biopolymer-based superabsorbent hydrogel was synthesized through chemically crosslinking graft copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) onto kappa-carrageenan (κC), in the presence of a crosslinking agent and a free radical initiator. A proposed mechanism for κC-g-polyacrylic acid was suggested and the affecting variables onto graft polymerization (i.e. the crosslinker, the monomer and the initiator concentration, the neutralization percent and reaction temperature) were systematically optimized to achieve a hydrogel with swelling capacity as high as possible. Maximum water absorbency of the optimized final product was found to be 789 g/g. The swelling capacity of the synthesized hydrogels was also measured in various salt solutions. The time-temperature profile of the polymerization reaction, in order to investigate the effect of molecular oxygen was conducted in terms of the absence and presence of the atmospheric oxygen. The overall activation energy (E_a) of the graft polymerization reaction was found to be 2.93 KJ/mol.