Synthesis of copolymeric acrylamide/potassium acrylate hydrogels blended with poly(vinyl alcohol): Effect of crosslinking and the amount of poly(vinyl alcohol) on swelling behavior

Abstract A novel series of copolymeric acrylamide/potassium acrylate superabsorbents, blended with poly(vinyl alcohol), have been synthesized by using N, N′‐methylenebisacrylamide as a crosslinker and potassium persulphate (K 2 S 2 O 8 ) as an initiator. Swelling behavior of these hydrogels in water was investigated; and on the basis of swelling properties, the diffusional behavior of water into these hydrogel systems was analyzed. It was observed that with the increase of amount of poly(vinyl alcohol) or crosslinking, the swelling of the hydrogels decreased. The hydrogel synthesized by addition of 5% poly(vinyl alcohol) and 0.25% crosslinking showed maximum swelling of 54445%. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 98: 1927–1931, 2005