Swelling Behavior of N‐t‐butylacrylamide Copolymer and Terpolymers

Abstract

Abstract Copolymers and terpolymers of N‐t‐butylacrylamide (TBA) with 2‐acrylamido‐2‐methyl propane sulfonic acid (AMPS) and N‐hydroxy methyl acrylamide (NHMAAM) were prepared by solution polymerization in a 1:1 (v/v) mixture of methanol and water at 50 °C keeping the TBA content in the feed constant at 60% based on mole ratio. The contents of AMPS or NHMAAM used for the preparation of TBA‐AMPS and TBA‐NHMAAM copolymers were 40 mole %. Molar percentages of AMPS and NHMAAM monomers in the feed for the preparation of TBA‐AMPS‐NHMAAM terpolymers were varied as 10:30, 20:20, and 30:10, respectively. The effects of temperature, AMPS and crosslinker contents, and the drying of swollen gels on the swelling behavior of ionic and non‐ionic TBA gels were investigated in distilled water between 10–50 °C and in buffer solutions having various pHs (1.9, 3.1, 5.6, 7.1, and 9.8) with constant ionic strength of 0.08 M at 20 °C using both the dry and the swollen forms of gels. The chemical structures and microscopic morphologies of the polymers were investigated by FTIR and SEM, respectively.