Water-absorbing polymer structures produced using polymer dispersions

A process for producing water-absorbing polymer structures, comprising the process steps of:

• i) providing an aqueous monomer solution comprising
• a polymerizable, monoethylenically unsaturated monomer (α1) bearing acid groups, or a salt thereof,
• optionally a monoethylenically unsaturated monomer (α2) polymerizable with monomer (α1), and
• optionally a crosslinker (α3),
• ii) free-radically polymerizing the aqueous monomer solution to obtain a polymer gel,
• iii) optionally comminuting the polymer gel,
• iv) drying the optionally comminuted polymer gel to obtain water-absorbing polymer structures,
• v) optionally grinding and sieving the water-absorbing polymer structures, and
• vi) surface postcrosslinking the optionally ground and sieved water-absorbing polymer structures,
• by
• I) adding a thermoplastic polymer to the aqueous monomer solution before process step ii) or during process step ii),
• or by
• II) introducing a thermoplastic polymer by means of kneading apparatus into the polymer gel after process step ii) and before process step iv).