Lipophilic Super-Absorbent Swelling Gels as Cleaners for Use on Weapons Systems and Platforms

Abstract

Increasingly stringent regulations on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) demand the development of disruptive technologies for cleaning weapons systems and platforms. Current techniques 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. We propose to use novel lipophilic super-absorbent swelling gels as a disruptive solid state cleaning technology. 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) tetraalkylammonium tetraphenylborate lipophilic polyelectrolyte gel (EG-18) and poly(stearylacrylate-co-ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate) (SA-co-EGDMA) neutral gel (NG_18) were evaluated for swelling and oil sorption capacity. The results were compared with a commercially available alkylstyrene copolymer (imbiber beads). For each gel, the swelling degree and oil absorption capacity were quantitatively investigated at 0-60 degrees C using a variety of polar and nonpolar solvents. The cross-linking of the polymers was studied and the compression strength was determined. The cleaning tests were performed using ASTM G122-96(2008) methods. NG-18 and EG-18 gels removed particulate contaminants and absorbed oils and grease on metal and non-metal surfaces without causing abrasion. The gels are also recyclable. The cleaning ability of the gels was compared with the standard solvent cleaner. Polymer gel cleaners exhibited analogues extent and rate of cleaning. In conclusion, the superabsorbent polymer cleaners developed will allow drastic reduction in use of VOC containing solvents and HAP release.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 18, 2011
Accession Number
ADA581971

Entities

People

  • Christopher R. Myers
  • Kazuki Sada
  • Masahiko Ohta
  • Sophie M. Uchimiya
  • Thomas Torres
  • Veera M. Boddu
  • Wayne Ziegler

Organizations

  • Construction Engineering Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Alcohols
  • Alkenes
  • Carbon Tetrachloride
  • Chemical Synthesis
  • Chemistry
  • Climate Change
  • Critical Temperature
  • Department Of Defense
  • Dielectric Permittivity
  • Equations
  • Ethylene Glycol
  • Organic Chemistry
  • Organic Compounds
  • Phase Transformations
  • Transition Temperature
  • Transitions
  • Volatile Organic Compounds

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Environmental Engineering.
  • Groundwater Contamination Remediation.
  • Polymer Science and Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics