Abstract:

The ternary starch grafted itaconic acid/acrylate acid superabsorbent polymers（S/IA/AA）were synthesized via aqueous solution polymerization with maize starch，itaconic acid（IA）and acrylate acid（AA）as raw materials.The factors that influenced the sample’s properties were investigated.The superabsorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FTIR），scanning electron microscopy（SEM）and energy dispersive X-ray detector（EDX）.Preliminary results indicated that S/IA/AA polymer，which was synthesized by using IA in addition to AA，exhibited improved water absorbency compared with that of S/AA polymer.Starch gelatinization optimum conditions were obtained as follows：gelatinization temperature 80℃，gelatinization time 30 min and starch to water ratio 10 g•g^-1，respectively.The optimized polymerization process of S/IA/AA was concentrations of cross-linker 0.075%，concentration of initiator 4×10^-3 mol•L^-1，IA to AA ratio 40%，starch to monomer ratio 20%，neutralization degree 50%，and polymerization temperature 50℃.Kinetic curves of composite indicated that S/IA/AA had high absorbency rate and excellent water retention.For starch species superabsorbent，this study was significant for reduced cost of production，widened source of raw material，increased biodegradability and reduced dependence on petrochemicals.