Rapid synthesis of acrylamide onto xanthan gum based hydrogels under microwave radiations for enhanced thermal and chemical modifications

The main objective of this research work is to synthesize crosslinked hydrogel from xanthan gum and acrylamide under the influence of microwave radiations by graft polymerization technique in presence of potassium persulphate-N,N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide as initiator-crosslinker system. Different reaction parameters such as reaction time, pH, solvent and initiator concentration were optimized a function of percentage grafting. Monomer and cross-linker concentrations were optimized as a function of percentage swelling for getting the polymer with maximum water absorption capacity. The superabsorbent was characterized using different characterization techniques like, FTIR, TGA / DTA / TDG and X-ray diffraction. The candidate polymer was found to be thermally more stable than the xanthan gum.