Preparation of highly water absorbable sheet like article

TLDR: In this paper, a short fiber is uniformly dispersed in an aqueous solution of a (salt) crosslinkable hydrophilic polymer and the resulting fiber containing dispersion is heated and dried to crosslink the aforementioned polymer.

Abstract: PURPOSE:To obtain a water-insoluble and highly water-absorbing sheet like article easily in a short process, by a method wherein a short fiber is uniformly dispersed in an aqueous solution of a (salt)crosslinkable hydrophilic polymer and the resulting fiber containing dispersion is heated and dried to crosslink the aforementioned polymer. CONSTITUTION:In an aqueous solution or an aqueous dispersion (A) of a self- crosslinkable hydrophilic polymer or a hydrophilic polymer crosslinkable by a crosslinking agent, for example, a copolymer of N-methylol acrylamide and acrylic acid, a short fiber (B) comprising a (semi)synthetic or a natural fiber with a length of 0.1-20mm. is uniformly dispersed in an amount of 50-200pts.wt. per 100pts.wt. component A and, after the aforementioned short fiber containing hydrophilic aqueous solution is cast to a thin film like form generally and, according to necessity, the formed thin film is foamed, the resulting thin film is heated and dried at 30 deg.C or more to form a crosslinked structure in the component A to obtain an objective sheet. USE:This sheet is used as a sanitary material or a dehydrating material.