Premium
Consolidation and expansion of a granular bed of superabsorbent hydrogels
Author(s) -
Iritani Eiji,
Katagiri Nobuyuki,
Yoo KyongMin,
Hayashi Hirotoshi
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.11045
Subject(s) - terzaghi's principle , consolidation (business) , self healing hydrogels , materials science , packed bed , composite material , swelling , chemical engineering , geotechnical engineering , chemistry , pore water pressure , polymer chemistry , chromatography , geology , engineering , accounting , business
Both consolidation and expansion properties of a packed bed of superabsorbent hydrogel particles under the action of the mechanical loads were investigated in various ionic environments using a KCl solution to clarify the role of the osmotic pressure of the solution on the deformation behaviors of hydrogel particles. A description of the consolidation process was accomplished through the use of either the modified Terzaghi model or a simplified computation method. As the concentration of KCl solution increased, the consolidation rate increased and the packed hydrogels became denser. The data were well analyzed based on the idea of the effective osmotic pressure of the solution. Moreover, in the expansion process of the compressed bed of hydrogel particles, it was determined that the secondary expansion effect known as the creep effect plays an important role on the expansion behavior. It was found that expansion proceeds more slowly than consolidation. © 2006 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2007