Swelling Studies of Poly(N, N-dimethyl acrylamide / acrylic acid) Hydrogels

synthesized with different molar composition ratios ([DMA:AAc] = 30:70, 50:50 and 70:30 mol. %) using ammonium peroxydisulfate as a free radical initiation sy em in the presence of various amounts of N, N’-methylene bis (acrylamide) as a crosslinker (0.05, 0.1 and 0.3 mol. %) and water as reactant medium. The swelling behavior of the obtained was characterized based on the amount of the by different amounts to added of the crosslinking agent. While the use of a large amount of crosslinking agent in the poly (DMA-co-AAc) hydrogels was reduced the swelling degree in the water medium, a smaller amount in the gel indicated the tendency of the gel to bur . Absorption udies were made using different concentrations of copper sulfate (CuSO 4 ). Poly(DMA-co-AAc) hydrogels absorption capacity is competitive when there are more N, N-dimethyl acrylamide content in copolymer than others. The swelling ratios of low concentration of Cu (II) ion are higher than those of higher concentration of Cu (II) ion. Hydrogel gave the highe swelling ratio for the solution containing the lowe Cu (II) ion concentration than for the solution containing the highe Cu (II) ion.