The swelling behaviors of polyacrylate superabsorbent in the mixtures of water and hydrophilic solvents, including methanol, ethanol, ethylene glycol, glycerol, acetone, dimethyl formamide, and dimethyl sulfoxide, were investigated. In 20 wt % solvent-water mixture, the superabsorbent with granularity between 40- and 80-mesh could reach swelling equilibrium at 25 degrees C in several hours. It was also found that mixture temperature between 15 and 35 degrees C had little influence on absorbency. Furthermore, the influence of water temperature between 0.5 and 99 degrees C on absorbency was also rather limited when the superabsorbent was swelled by distilled water. The mixture concentration influenced absorbency significantly by changing the solubility parameter of the solvent-water mixture, particularly when the solubility parameter of the solvent-water mixture was < 20. The equilibrium absorbency was very high when the solubility parameter of the mixture was > 20, whereas the absorbing capacity of the superabsorbent was very low when the solubility parameter was < 17.5. The polarity fraction of solvents did not have any obvious influence on equilibrium absorbency, but not enough polarity fraction might affect the absorbing rate. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.