Use of swellable polymer for sealing

1. A method for producing a swellable polymer, comprising polymerizing a composition which comprises at least one polyalkylene glycol di(meth)acrylate having a weight-average molecular weight from 5,000 g/mol to 10,000 g/mol, wherein said polymer comprises at least 50.0% by weight based on the total weight of the polymer of said at least one polyalkylene glycol di(meth)acrylate.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polyalkylene glycol di(meth)acrylate comprises at least one of an ethylene glycol unit and a propylene glycol unit.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the composition comprises a polyethylene glycol di(meth)acrylate.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polyalkylene glycol di(meth)acrylate has a weight-average molecular weight greater than 8000 g/mol.

5. The method according to claim 1 , comprising copolymerizing a composition which comprises at least one of amine and hydroxyalkyl ester, which is copolymerizable with polyalkylene glycol di(meth)acrylate.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the amine comprises at least one tertiary amine of the formula (I)

CH 2 ═CR′—CO—X—(R″—O) n —R″NR 2   (I)

in which R is an alkyl, hydroxyalkyl or alkoxyalkyl radical, in each case having 1 to 4 carbon atoms in the alkyl radical or alkoxy radical, or both R radicals together with the nitrogen atom form a heterocyclic ring, and R′ is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, X is an oxygen atom or an —NR— or —NH— group and R″ is an alkylene group having 2 to 4 carbon atoms and n is an integer of 0 to 4.

7. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the composition comprises at least one hydroxyalkyl ester of at least one of acrylic acid and methacrylic acid.

8. A method for sealing a site of defective sealing, comprising applying a composition which comprises at least one polyalkylene glycol di(meth)acrylate having a weight-average molecular weight from 5,000 g/mol to 10,000 g/mol to the site of defective sealing and polymerizing the composition, wherein said composition comprises at least 50.0% by weight based on the total weight of the polymer produced by said polymerizing of said at least one polyalkylene glycol di(meth)acrylate.

9. The method according to claim 8 , comprising polymerizing the composition with a free radical-forming initiator at a temperature in the range of 0° C. to 100° C.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said swellable polymer swells at least 150% in a solvent selected from the group consisting of a polar compound having a relative dielectic constant of greater than 10 at 25° C., an alcohol having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and water.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said polymer comprises ethylene glycol units in a proportion of at least 50.0% by weight based on the total weight of the polymer.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said polymer comprises ethylene glycol units in a proportion of at least 75.0% by weight based on the total weight of the polymer.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said polymer comprises ethylene glycol units in a proportion of at least 90.0% by weight based on the total weight of the polymer.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said polymer comprises propylene glycol units in a proportion of at least 50.0% by weight based on the total weight of the polymer.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said polymer comprises propylene glycol units in a proportion of at least 75.0% by weight based on the total weight of the polymer.

16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said polymer comprises propylene glycol units in a proportion of at least 90.0% by weight based on the total weight of the polymer.

17. The method according to claim 8 , wherein said method comprises hardening said composition by adding 1% by weight to 7% by weight, based on the total weight of the composition, of a water-soluble inorganic peroxodisulphate at a temperature ranging from 0° C. to 40° C.

18. The method according to claim 9 , wherein said polyalkylene glycol di(meth)acrylate and said free radical-forming initiator are intimately mixed in a mixing chamber and directly applied to the site of defective sealing.

19. The method according to claim 8 , wherein said composition comprises from 20% by weight to 40% by weight of polymerizable compounds.