Polyacrylamide and its derivatives for oil recovery

 
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IV. Synthesis, characterization and evaluation of polyacrylamide /poly (vinyl alcohol) inter-
penetrating network hydrogel for oil Recovery 
Zun Chen,
1
Thomas P. Schuman,
1
Yifu Long,
2
and Baojun Bai
2
1 
Department of Chemistry, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO 
65401 
2 
Department of Petroleum Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, 
Rolla, MO 65401 
Abstract 
Hydrogels have been applied in many fields but poor mechanical strength has 
limited further development. In this article, a biocompatible higher strength hydrogel 
comprised of an interpenetrating network (IPN) of polyacrylamide (PAM) and poly(vinyl 
alcohol) (PVA). The hydrogel was synthesized by an in situ free radical solution 
polymerization with crosslinking of acrylamide with N, N′-methylene-bisacrylamide 
comonomers, as well as a chemical crosslinking of PVA with glutaradehyde. The 
composition of the PAM/PVA IPN hydrogels was characterized by Fourier transform 
infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and the morphologies were observed by scanning electron 
microscopy (SEM). The investigations of the hydrogels’ swelling kinetics in brine 
demonstrated that the PAM/PVA IPN hydrogels had less sensitivity to salt and pH than a 
neat PAM hydrogel. The formation of a PVA network decreased the equilibrium swelling 
ratio (SR) of hydrogels; however, it greatly increased the mechanical properties of 
hydrogels. Incorporating from 2 wt% to 15 wt% of PVA into hydrogels’ network, both 

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storage modulus and loss modulus were enhanced and cracking stress was enhanced from 
25 to 60 times as much as the control, neat PAM hydrogel. Yield stress was promoted 
from around 140 Pa for the control PAM hydrogel to over 800 Pa for a PAM-PVA IPN. 
The mechanical crosslinking by the IPN structure resulted in better mechanical 
performance by PAM/PVA IPN hydrogels.