Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

Swelling capacity

The swelling capacity of a polymer is the amount of a liquid that can be absorbed by it. This test can done by two methods:

  1. Beaker test method[1]
  2. Tea bag test method[2]

Beaker test method

In this method

  • A small amount of superabsorbent polymer material is taken (0.1g) and it is placed in the beaker.
  • 100 ml of deionized water is poured into the beaker.
  • After 20 min the swollen polymer was separated by using [filter paper]
  • By weighing the polymer, one can find the swollen capacity of the SAP material.[3]

Tea bag test method

  • In this method, 0.1 g of SAP material is placed into a permeable bag, which is suspended over excess water in a beaker.
  • Wait 20 min. and weigh the bag and then calculate the percentage of swelling through the following formula:
    (w2-w1)/(w1)  %
    w1= weight of the polymer (Before swelling)
    w2= weight of the polymer (After swelling)
  • Note: Filter paper only for removing water.

References

  1. ^ Anandan, Dhivyaa; Madhumathi, G.; Nambiraj, N. Arunai; Jaiswal, Amit K. (June 15, 2019). "Gum based 3D composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications". Carbohydrate Polymers. 214: 62–70. doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.03.020. ISSN 0144-8617. PMID 30926008. S2CID 88481556.
  2. ^ Zhong, Peihua; Wang, Jun; Wang, Xiaoxian; Liu, Jiaping; Li, Zhen; Zhou, Yichuan (2020). "Comparison of Different Approaches for Testing Sorption by a Superabsorbent Polymer to Be Used in Cement-Based Materials". Materials. 13 (21): 5015. Bibcode:2020Mate...13.5015Z. doi:10.3390/ma13215015. ISSN 1996-1944. PMC 7664450. PMID 33172166.
  3. ^ Yang, Zijiang; Arakawa, Hisayuki (2023). "A beaker method for determination of microplastic concentration by micro-Raman spectroscopy". MethodsX. 11. doi:10.1016/j.mex.2023.102251. PMC 10336159. PMID 37448948.