Patent ID: 7049000

Claim:
A water-swellable material, comprising water-swellable polymers that are coated with a coating agent, which comprises an elastomeric material that is phase-separating, having at least a first phase with a first glass transition temperature Tg 1 and a second phase with a second glass transition temperature Tg 2 , and wherein said elastomeric material is a block copolymeric material, having a molecular weight of at least 50 kDa and wherein said block copolymeric material further comprises at least one block copolymer selected from the group consisting of polyurethane-co-polyethers, polyurethane-co-polyesters, polyurethane/urea-co-polyethers, polyurethane/urea-co-polyesters, polystyrene block copolymers and blends thereof.