Ion swelling

A tremendous variety of structures is known, and some of the three-dimensional network ones are porous enough to show the same type of swelling phenomena as the layer structures—and also ion exchange behavior. The zeolites fall in this last category and have been studied extensively, both as ion exchangers and as gas adsorbents (e.g.. Refs. 185 and 186). As an example, Goulding and Talibudeen have reported on isotherms and calorimetric heats of Ca -K exchange for several aluminosilicates [187]. 

The degree of swelling and shrinking is important for design of ion-exchange columns, especiaUy for the location of the distributors used to disperse incoming fluids, and coUect outgoing ones, evenly over the cross-sectional area of the resin bed. Once placed, these distributors are not adjustable. The upper distributor should be above (the lower one below) the resin bed, even in the bed s swoUen form. 

Addition of a salt can transform the shale by cation exchange to a less sensitive form of clay, or reduce the osmotic swelling effect by reducing the water activity in the mud below that which occurs in the shale. These effects depend on the salt concentration and the nature of the cation. Salts containing sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and ammonium ions ate used to varying degrees. 

Carbopol is widely used in cosmetic and pharmaceutical practice as a gel-former. Carbopol resins are hydrophilic polymers which swell in water solutions and transform into the gel form at neutralization. At the elaboration of special cosmetic preparations in which carbopol is used, the problem of raw materials compatibility appears. For example, some extracts of aromatic pectin containing materials destroy the gel structure of carbopol. High contents of bivalent metal ions, in particular calcium ions, destructively influence onto the gel-making ability of the system too. 

Ion-exchange resins swell in water to an extent which depends on the amount of crosslinking in the polymer, so that columns should be prepared from the wet material by adding it as a suspension in water to a tube already partially filled with water. (This also avoids trapping air bubbles.) The exchange capacity of a resin is commonly expressed as mg equiv./mL of wet resin. This quantity is pH-dependent for weak-acid or weak-base resins but is constant at about 0.6-2 for most strong-acid or strong-base types. 

Sephadex. Other carbohydrate matrices such as Sephadex (based on dextran) have more uniform particle sizes. Their advantages over the celluloses include faster and more reproducible flow rates and they can be used directly without removal of fines . Sephadex, which can also be obtained in a variety of ion-exchange forms (see Table 15) consists of beads of a cross-linked dextran gel which swells in water and aqueous salt solutions. The smaller the bead size, the higher the resolution that is possible but the slower the flow rate. Typical applications of Sephadex gels are the fractionation of mixtures of polypeptides, proteins, nucleic acids, polysaccharides and for desalting solutions. 

Resistance to Fracture - The ion or ionized complexes that the resins are required to fix are of varied dimensions and weights. The swelling and contraction of the resin bead that this causes must obviously not cause the grains to burst. 

Swelling The expansion of an ion-exchange W which occurs when the re- active groups on the resin are converted from one form to another. 

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