LAUSR

Polyacrylamide copolymers (PAMVT) microspheres were prepared through inverse emulsion polymerization by using acrylic acid (AA), 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) as functional monomers, N,N′-methylene bis-acrylamide (MBA) as cross-linker and modified vermiculite (MVMT) with the single-factor experiments. The initial and swelled particle sizes were tested through the dynamic light scattering (DLS). The swelled particle size under the optimum conditions could be 1.98 μm. The structure was characterized through Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), which indicated that vermiculite has successfully modified and the polymerization reaction was completed. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that MVMT was evenly filled with PAM copolymers. The water absorption capacity can be up to 80.2%. The recovery efficiency of the water flooding was increased from 69.33% to 77.56%. All these results indicated that the microspheres emulsions could be used as profile control agent to enhance the recovery efficiency. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44918.