Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Using Gel Water Beads In New Products

By Alyce Powell


New inventions are developed every day almost. When new things come out, the people who come up with the ideas on how to use them get to work. Such was the situation when gel water beads were invented. They were developed because the USDA was looking for new ways to conserve water in soil. What they did was almost change an entire industry.

The problem with those materials was that they got very heavy and very large when they got wet. Not only that, but they could only hold a certain amount of liquids. Once they got beyond capacity the liquid would just no longer be absorbed and it would leak. Sometimes the material that was holding the liquid and now full would also leak.

The things were made from a super absorbent polymer and they are really absorbent. The old way that diapers were manufactured called for cotton and other such products to be stuffed in the lining and when it came into contact with liquid that cotton would grow about 5 times its mass. However great that was at the time, they were not that solid.

First, it was cloth. We used to just wrap our children in various thickness of cloth and ties that to their bottom. Of course these needed changing quite often and cost parents a fortune in cleaning bills. Not to mention the major pain in the behind it was to clean and change these clothes on a baby. There had to be a better way, and there was.

When more liquid was introduced they would simply reject it without losing what they already held. This meant that the polymers would be the new star of the liquid world because they worked better than anything else like it before. New ways were discovered to store water for farmers in drought and for the medical industry as well.

The rate that these things work is amazing. They have almost revolutionized entire industries. The agriculture industry was doing fine, but because of these polymers new products have come out that have actually made things better for certain farmers and in some cases even saved some farms during droughts.

Fire retardant materials and chemicals were made that would not harm the people wearing or using them and new ways were discovered to bring liquid to those who needed it without having to worry about losing it. It was used in various toys that could grow in liquids from small beans to very large dinosaurs. It was amazing the amount of products that came from this one invention.

Gel water beads have found their way into a large variety of products both in the consumer realm as well as the military and medical fields as well. There are so many ways they could be used that there are still new products coming out all the time that utilize this technology. It is not even that old as these polymers have only been around in this form for about a decade. The real interesting thought is to wonder what will come next. The future holds some great things for such products and for us as well.




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