Study on Synthesis of Superabsorbent Using Microwave Heating and Water Absorbency

The aqueous solution polymerization methods were carried out using microwave heating for the superabsorbent synthesis experiment. The differences between reaction temperatures and reaction times were compared respectively under the same conventional heating conditions. The results showed that microwave heating can generate better results: The maximum of distilled water absorbency is 711 times, and the maximum of 0.9% saline water absorbency is 86 times when the polymerization temperature is at 35 °C and the reaction time is 1.5 h. Water absorbency of the superabsorbent obtained using microwave heating is better than that of conventional heating. Analysis of FTIR and SEM showed that starch grafting with acrylic acid and acrylamide was successful, and a three-dimensional network structure was formed in superabsorbent. The causes of organic reactions accelerated using microwave heating were also discussed in this paper.