Polymer and Organic Materials Commons^™

Characterization Of Superabsorbent Polymers In Aluminum Solutions, Nicholas D. Macke, Matthew J. Krafcik, Kendra A. Erk

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Over the past few decades, super absorbent polymers (SAPs) have been the topic of research projects all around the world due to their incredible ability to absorb water. They have applications in everything from disposable diapers to high performance concrete. In concrete, aqueous cations permeate the polymer network, reducing swelling and altering properties. One of these ions, aluminum, alters SAP properties by creating a stiff outer shell and greatly reducing absorbency, but these effects have not been well characterized. One method of characterizing the effects of aluminum on SAP hydrogels was performing gravimetric swelling tests to determine equilibrium water capacity …