Self healing salt water barrier

A method of manufacturing a geocomposite article that provides a barrier to water having a conductivity of at least 1 mS/cm comprising:

• providing a woven or non-woven lower geotextile fabric;
• contacting the lower geotextile fabric with a blend of a meltable adhesive and powdered or granular partially cross-linked, water-insoluble acrylamide/acrylate/acrylic acid copolymer, and causing at least a portion of the powdered or granular copolymer to flow into the geotextile fabric to fill at least a portion of the geotextile fabric within openings thereof;
• disposing an upper geotextile fabric over the blend of meltable adhesive and copolymer and applying heat and pressure to melt and flux the adhesive around the copolymer and fuse the geotextile fabrics together and to seal the copolymer between the upper and lower geotextile fabrics;
• and
• securing a liquid-impermeable cover sheet to a major surface of one of the upper or lower geotextile fabrics;
• wherein the geocomposite article exhibits a self-healing performance index less than 0.1 when tested by placing a 1 inch slit through all layers of the geocomposite article sealed at its edges under 4 meters of water with a conductivity of 1 mS/cm or greater, and
• wherein the copolymer is an acrylamide/potassium acrylate/acrylic acid copolymer (CAS #31212-13-2).