Study on superabsorbent composite. XX. Effects of cation‐exchanged montmorillonite on swelling properties of superabsorbent composite containing sodium humate

Abstract In this work, the effects of different cation‐exchanged montmorillonite on water absorbency of poly(acrylic acid‐ co ‐acrylamide)/montmorillonite/sodium humate (PAA‐AM/MMT/SH) superabsorbent composite were systematically investigated under the same preparation conditions. The superabsorbents doped with different cation‐exchanged montmorillonite were characterized by Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy technologies. Swelling behaviors of developing superabsorbent composite in various cationic saline solutions (NaCl, CaCl ₂ , and FeCl ₃ ) were also investigated. The water absorbencies of superabsorbent composite with 20 wt% MMT and 30 wt% SH are 638, 723, 682, and 363 g g ⁻¹ in distilled water for incorporating natural Na ⁺ ‐MMT, Li ⁺ ‐exchanged MMT, Ca ²⁺ ‐exchanged MMT, and Al ³⁺ ‐exchanged MMT, respectively. The results showed that the cation‐exchange process had some obvious influences on final water absorbency of superabsorbent composite. NaCl, CaCl ₂ , and FeCl ₃ solutions did not alter the swelling characteristics of the superabsorbent materials at a concentration of less than 0.01 mM, however, a concentration of greater than 0.1 mM caused a collapse in the swelling curves. The excellent swelling‐reswelling‐swelling behavior and lower swelling rate testified that Al ³⁺ ‐exchanged MMT can act as an assistant crosslinker in the polymeric network. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers