Viscoelastic properties, hydrophobically

Homopolymers are sometimes modified by a mechanical admixture of another homopolymer. As only about 5 % of pairs of all known polymers are mutually miscible, compatibility may be a problem in mixtures (blends). Copolymerization is technically applied to overcome, for example, the brittleness of polystyrene, polypropylene and PVC. It is also applied for improving the curing properties and modifying the viscoelastic properties of rubbers. By copolymerization, the relation between the hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties of macromolecules can also be modified. Their resistance to solvents may be enhanced. 

Viscoelastic properties of hydrophobically associating polymers were significantly affected above the overlap concentration. Increased hydrophobe... 

The rheological properties of a fluid interface may be characterized by four parameters surface shear viscosity and elasticity, and surface dilational viscosity and elasticity. When polymer monolayers are present at such interfaces, viscoelastic behavior has been observed (1,2), but theoretical progress has been slow. The adsorption of amphiphilic polymers at the interface in liquid emulsions stabilizes the particles mainly through osmotic pressure developed upon close approach. This has become known as steric stabilization (3,4.5). In this paper, the dynamic behavior of amphiphilic, hydrophobically modified hydroxyethyl celluloses (HM-HEC), was studied. In previous studies HM-HEC s were found to greatly reduce liquid/liquid interfacial tensions even at very low polymer concentrations, and were extremely effective emulsifiers for organic liquids in water (6). 

The organized structures give to the aqueous phases new macroscopic properties like iridescent colors, viscoelasticity, gel character, a yield stress, and, between crossed polarizers, beautifully colored patterns that make the order in the samples visible. The self-organization of the surfactant molecules is simply a result of the hydrophobic and electrostatic interaction between the individual molecules and the micellar structures. The size of the micellar structures, as in the case of small imUamellar vesicles, can be extremely monodisperse, even though one vesicle consists of hrmdreds of surfactant molecules. 

Hence, from the previously described light-scattering study of caseinate self-assembly in solution, we can postulate that heating/cooling not only alters the nature and strength of the physical (hydrophobic) interactions between emulsion droplets covered by caseinate. It most likely also transforms the nanoscale structural characteristics of the protein network in the bulk and at the interface, thereby affecting the viscoelastic and microstructural properties of the emulsions. 

The classical form of describing relaxations, as mention above, was founded by Maxwell (1868). Following Moelwyn-Hughes (1971) the relaxation time x is connected with the displacement of a particle by a simple equation. It is interesting, that surface rheological properties can be studied by the displacement of hydrophobic particles at viscoelastic interfaces (Maru Wasan 1979), using an equation like... 

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