| abstract |
There is disclosed a process which comprises: n (a) applying an aqueous solution comprising a salt of acrylic or methacrylic acid to an aggregation of fibers; n (b) irradiating said aggregation containing said aqueous solution with electromagnetic or corpuscular ionizing radiation to convert said salt of acrylic or methacrylic acid to a water-swellable polymer; n (c) individualizing the fibers to disperse the fibers and the said water-swellable polymer; n (d) collecting the individualized fibers and water-swellable polymer in the form of a fluffy batt of fibers having distributed therethrough isolated portions of water-swellable polymer affixed to individual fibers or to small groups of fibers. |