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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #268057
Title: Lipophilic super-absorbent polymer gels as surface cleaners for oil and grease

Author
item MYERS, CHRISTOPHER - Us Army Research
item BODDU, VEERA - Us Army Research
item Uchimiya, Sophie

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/16/2011
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Increasingly stringent environmental regulations on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) demand the development of disruptive technologies for cleaning weapons systems and platforms. Currently employed techniques such as vapor degreasing, solvent, aqueous, or blast cleaning processes suffer from shortcomings in environmental friendliness, personnel health and safety, cleaning efficiency, cost-effectiveness, management of contaminated cleaning media, or in maintaining the integrity of equipment material surfaces. Lipophilic super-absorbent swelling gels have been developed that will not only absorb the oil and grease from these machine parts, but will also act as an automated sweeper due to the self-generating mechanical force of the gel. An octadecylacrylate-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (ODA-co-EGDMA) lipophilic gel (G-1) and commercially available Alkylstyrene Copolymer (Imbiber beads) were evaluated for swelling and oil sorption capacity. Along with the imbiber beads and G-1 gel, Poly stearylacrylate-co-ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate neutral gel (NG-18), another lipophilic super-absorbent gel, was synthesized and tested. The swelling degree and amount of oil absorption of each of these gels was determined at temperatures ranging from 0°C to 60°C, using a variety of solvents, both polar and nonpolar. The mechanical strength of each gel was studied using compression strength and cross-linking of the polymers was studied using infrared spectroscopy. The cleaning tests were performed using metal coupons. Details of gel preparation and evaluation of oil sorption capacity will presented.