Effect of Mixed Dispersants on Suppression of the Gel Effect during Aqueous Adiabatic Terpolymerization of AM,NaAA,and DMC

Gelation adversely affects the aqueous adiabatic terpolymerization of acrylamide(AM),sodium acrylate(NaAA),and 2-methacryloyloxyethyl trimethylammonium chloride(DMC).Here,the mixed dispersants sorbitan monooleate(Span 80)and polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate(Tween 80)were introduced to the terpolymerization system in an attempt to mitigate the gel effect.This enabled the preparation of high-performance amphoteric polyacrylamides,which were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis.The influences of the dispersant type and content as well as the hydrophilic-lipophilic balance(HLB)on the gel effect were examined,and the mechanism underlying the suppression of the gel effect was considered.The obtained results indicated that the gel effect can be effectively mitigated using an aqueous adiabatic terpolymerization system containing mixed Span 80/Tween 80 dispersants at various contents.In particular,mixed dispersant contents of 0.6％-0.8％with HLB values of 5.0-6.0 afforded the optimal performance(e.g.,high viscosity,fast aqueous dissolution time,and the like).