Swelling properties of sand-fixing materials prepared with acrylic acid/acrylamide copolymer and palygorskite

The sand-fixing materials were synthesized by crosslinking acrylic acid/acrylamide copolymer (AA/AM) and heat-modified palygorskite, and initiating the reaction with potassium persulfate (KPS) for investigating water absorbency. It was done to determine how certain characteristics, such as the palygorskite content, pH conditions and ultrasonic treatments, affected the Swelling properties of the sand-fixing materials. The results confirmed that the water absorbency for both distilled water and saline solution was improved by the addition of palygorskite, and the maximum swelling was attained when the palygorskite addition was 10%, however, as the clay amount was increased further to 15%, the swelling capacity decreased. Larger water absorbency was found for neutral water vs. alkaline water in the lower pH value. The ultrasonic treatments during the polymerization enhanced the water absorbency and retention of the sand-fixing materials with the ultrasonic power at 300W providing the maximum effectiveness.