GRAFTED CROSSLINKED CELLULOSE

Grafted， crosslinked cellulosic materials include cellulose fibers and polymer chains composed of at least one monoethylenically unsaturated acid group-containing monomer (such as acrylic acid) grafted thereto， in which one or more of said cellulose fibers and said polymer chains are crosslinked (such as by intra-fiber chain-to-chain crosslinks). Some of such materials are characterized by a wet bulk of about 10.0-17.0 cm 3/g， an IPRP value of about 1000 to 7700 cm2/MPa·sec， and/or a MAP value of about 7.0 to 38 cm H2O. Methods for producing such materials may include grafting polymer chains from a cellulosic substrate， followed by treating the grafted material with a crosslinking agent adapted to effect crosslinking of one or more of the cellulosic substrate or the polymer chains. Example crosslinking mechanisms include esterfication reactions， ionic reactions， and radical reactions， and example crosslinking agents include pentaerythritol， homopolymers of the graft species monomer， and hyperbranched polymers.