Role of electron beam irradiation on superabsorbent behaviors of carboxymethyl cellulose

Abstract Superabsorbent materials derived from synthetic polymers can cause various environmental problems. In this study, eco-friendly superabsorbent materials were prepared from a mixture of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as a raw material and different concentrations of citric acid (CA) as a crosslinking agent through electron beam irradiation (EBI). The results showed that the CMC/2 wt% CA and CMC/4 wt% CA samples obtained using 20-kGy EBI showed the highest gel fraction value of over 95 % and the highest swelling degree of around 7,000 %. In addition, the water retention of the swollen CMC/2 wt% CA gel decreased steadily to around 63 % of the initial absorbed water during a period of 7 h, and then remained at around 60 %.