Abstract
Copolymers of 2-acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonic acid and acrylic acid were crosslinked in the presence of different mol% of either vinyl trimethoxy silane (VTMS) as the crosslinking agent under acidic conditions or N,N-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as crosslinker using solution radical polymerization. The resultant xerogels were characterized by extracting the soluble fractions and measuring the equilibrium water content. Soluble fractions of the crosslinked networks were reduced by varying the MBA and VTMS concentrations. The surface morphology of the crosslinked polymers was observed by scanning electron microscope. The influence of pH on the swelling behavior of gels was investigated. The swelling behaviors of the resulting gels show pH sensitivity.