Rheology of Polymer Solutions

The rheology of polymer solutions is a subject of considerable practical interest. It is important in several stages of the manufacturing and processing of polymers, e.g. in the spinning of fibres and the casting of films from solutions, and especially in the paints and coatings industry. 

Despite the large amount of literature on this subject, the rheology of polymer solutions is less completely understood than that of polymer melts. This is because two more parameters are involved the nature and the concentration of the solvent. 

These two approaches can be clearly distinguished in the literature on the rheology of polymer solutions. It is remarkable that both approaches use quite different methods. Only a few authors have tried to establish a relationship between the two fields of investigation. 

Ouibrahim, A. Rheology of polymer solutions in laminar capillary tube flow. Phys. Fluids 21,1 (1978) 4-8... 

In order to analyse the in-situ rheology of polymer solutions, an approach under one of the following headings may be considered ... 

Polymer solutions (i.e., polymers dissolved in low molecular weight solvents) are widely used in industrial compoimds of varying complexity. Synthetic hydrocarbon elastomers are often marketed as oil-extended rubber , which are solutions of the basic elastomer with hydrocarbon mineral oils. Polyvinyl chloride is often marketed in a plasticized form, which are solutions involving low molecular weight esters. Many additives dissolve in polymers forming polymer solutions. In this chapter, we consider the fundamental thermodynamics and rheology of polymer solutions as well as important applications. 

Flow and rheology of dispersions and viscosity of polymer solutions and how viscosity is used to characterize dispersions (Chapter 4)... 

Philippoff, W., Gaskins,F.H., Brodnyan, J.G. Flow birefringence and stress. V. Correlation of recoverable shear strains with other rheological properties of polymer solutions. J. Appl. Phys. 28,1118-1123 (1957). 

Y. Cohen, Apparent Slip Flow of Polymer Solutions, in "Encyclopedia of Fluid Mechanics. Rheology and Non-Newtonian Flows", N.P. Cheremisinoff (ed.), Gulf Publishing, Houston, TX, vol. 7,1988, pp. 407-457. 

We have seen in the previous sections that viscoelastic scaling, employing the scaling factor ac, produces master viscosity curves for polymer-gas solutions that are identical to the master curve for the pure polymer. This means that the effect of dissolved gas on the rheology of polymer melts can be described entirely by the variation of ac with gas content. We have not, of course, demonstrated that all polymer-gas systems follow this scaling beha-... 

G. Kiss and R. S. Porter, Rheology of concentrated solutions of poly (y -benzyl-glutamate), J. Polym. Sci., Polym. Symp., 65,193 (1978). 

W. R. Burghardt and G. G. Fuller, Role of director tumbling in the rheology of polymer liquid crystal solutions, Macromolecules, 24, 2546 (1991). 

The rheological model used for the reacting stream is that of Stuber (42), based on known empirical generic behavior of polymer solutions. The basis of the model is... 

Thurston GB, Peterlin A (1967) Influence of finite number of chain segments, hydrodynamic interaction, and internal viscosity on intrinsic birefringence and viscosity of polymer solutions in an oscillating laminar flow field. J Chem Phys 46(12) 4881 4884 Treloar LRG (1958) The physics of rubber elasticity. Oxford University Press, London Tsenoglou C (2001) Non-Newtonian rheology of entangled polymer solutions and melts. Macromolecules 34 2148-2155... 

Ford, D.E., J. Ulbrecht, AIChE J. 21 (1975) 6, 1230-1233 Blending of polymer solutions with different rheological properties... 

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