Production of polyacrylamide from monomer using laser

Abstract

This work aims to study visible laser-induced polymerization of acrylamide. Three individual drops of the polymerization mixture were irradiated with He-Ne laser-emitting at 632.8 nm with output power of 1mW-for different exposure times (18, 24 & 36 hrs). The IR spectra of these three samples were recorded, as well as the IR spectrum of the monomer & the polymerization mixture without irradiation. The obtained IR spectra were compared with literature IR spectra of acrylamide and polyacrylamide, and there is high correlation between them. The study indicated the possibility of production of polyacrylamide from monomer using the above mentioned laser. Moreover, with increasing the exposure time the polymerization rate increased. These experimental results – obtained by using this type of low power laser - deserve further future work