Patent ID: 7947865

Claim:
An absorbent structure comprising water-swellable material that comprises a plurality of water-swellable polymer particles coated with a coating agent, the material being obtained by a process comprising: a. obtaining water-swellable polymer particles; and simultaneously with or subsequently to step a), applying the coating agent comprising an elastomeric material that is phase-separating and has 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 to at least a part of the water-swellable polymer particles, the coating agent comprising 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, the coating agent being present in the form of a continuous shell around at least a portion of one or more of the water-swellable polymer particles, the shell having an average caliper of 1 μm to 50 μm.