UV-irradiation Effects on the Properties of poly-Acrylamide/Sodium Acrylate Gel

Abstract

In the present study, the authors have investigated how the UV-ray irradiation affects the surface condition of wet and dehydrated poly(acrylamide/sodium acrylate) (PAAm/SA) gels. With large amounts of the UV-ray dosage, the wet PAAm/SA gel readily disintegrates to wreak the surface erosion while the dehydrated gel exhibits considerable turbidness in spite of no remarkable change in outline. Besides, even with the smaller dosage spawning no appreciable change only by the UV-ray irradiation, some of the wet PAAm/SA gels turn significantly opaque by putting an aqueous CuCl₂ solution on the surface, which indicates the breakup of the surface layer of the wet PAAm/SA gel.