Abstract
Superabsorbent polymers were prepared by graft copolymerization using acrylic acid and acrylamide as monomer, ammonium persulphate as a free radical initiator, methylene-bis-acrylamide as a cross-linker and four kinds of starches as model materials. The macroscopic performance (water absorbency) and microcosmic characterizations (FT-IR and SEM) are observed to explore the correlation between gelatinization characteristics and the performance of starch-based super absorbents. It was proved that the optimum gelatinization temperature for corn starch and sweet potato starch was 15°C higher than that of potato starch for high-amylose starches requiring more energy to break up hydrogen bonds. When gelatinization degree reached the highest, the distilled water needed in this process was five times the weight of potato starch, while six times for corn starch and sweet potato starch, because the latter contains more carboxyl group, which require more water to gelatinise. The optimum gelatinization time was expected to be 1 hour.
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