The Procter & Gamble Company
Method for making water-absorbing polymer particles

Abstract:

A method for making water-absorbing polymer particles is provided and includes providing crosslinkers, polymerizable monomers and inorganic solid particles. The average closest distance between two neighboring crosslinkers (R.sub.XL) in a water-absorbing polymer particle for a specific X-load of the water-absorbing polymer particle is calculated via the formula below: .times..times. ##EQU00001## with x_L being the amount of liquid absorbed in the water-absorbing polymer particle in g liq/g water-absorbing polymer particle, rho_liq being the density at room temperature of the fluid that swells the water-absorbing polymer particle (generally saline of 0.9% w NaCl) in g/cm.sup.3, rho_dry being the true density of the dry water-absorbing polymer particle in g/cm.sup.3, Mr_CXL being the molar mass of the crosslinkers in g/mol, w_xl being the weight ratio of crosslinkers in dry water-absorbing polymer particle, N.sub.A being the Avogadro's number in mol.sup.-1.