Shear rate associating polymer viscosity affected

The rheological behaviour of thermotropic polymers is complex and not yet well understood. It is undoubtedly complicated in some cases by smectic phase formation and by variation in crystallinity arising from differences in thermal history. Such variations in crystallinity may be associated either with the rates of the physical processes of formation or destruction of crystallites, or with chemical redistribution of repeating units to produce non-random sequences. Since both shear history and thermal history affect the measured values of viscosity, and frequently neither is adequately defined, comparison of results between workers and between polymers is at present hazardous. 

Viscosity Maxima. The low-shear-rate viscosities of both commercial and model associative thickeners below their c /, values will increase with the addition of conventional low molecular weight surfactants or coalescing aid (22). With HEUR polymers, solution viscosities are observed to increase, achieve a maximum value, and then decrease with continued increase in surfactant concentration (23). This type of behavior is illustrated (Figure 5) for four commercial HEURs with a nonionic surfactant (typical of that used in coating formulations). A similar behavior has been observed (24) with a classical anionic surfactant and hydrophobically modified (hydroxy-ethyl)cellulose (HMHEC) and is reviewed in Chapter 18. Intermicellar networks, formed by the participation of one or more hydrophobes from different polymers in the micelles of conventional surfactants, were again recently suggested (25) to affect viscous solutions. 

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