Investigation of phase stability of poly(1-oxotrimethylene)-dissolved aqueous solutions containing ZnCl2/CaCl2/LiCl: Influence of boric acid introduction and aging time

Abstract

Poly(1-oxotrimethylene) (POTM) was dissolved in aqueous solutions containing ZnCl2, CaCl2, and LiCl, and the effects of boric acid introduction on the phase stability of the POTM solutions over various aging times were investigated. In the absence of boric acid, aging at 70°C for 8 h notably reduced the loss tangent (tanδ) for the 7.0 wt.% POTM solutions. Addition of boric acid into unaged solutions had little effect on tanδ over the frequency range measured, regardless of its content, whereas addition of 0.3-1.0 wt.% of boric acid into aged solutions increased tanδ. The dynamic viscosity of the POTM solutions with 1.0 wt.% boric acid was affected little by aging time. Conversely, the POTM solutions without boric acid exhibited increased dynamic viscosity in the low-frequency range with aging time. In addition, the slope of the solutions in the Cole-Cole plot decreased with increasing aging time in the absence of boric acid, whereas aging time had little effect in the presence of 1.0 wt.% boric acid. For dilute POTM solutions (i.e., 0.5 g/dL), the reduced viscosity decreased with increasing aging time in the absence of boric acid, while it was affected little in solutions with the addition of 1.0 wt.% boric acid. In the UV-Vis spectra, the aging-time-dependent increase of the absorbance peak at 390 nm was associated with the generation of a chromophoric complex in the POTM solutions. Conversely, the disappearance of the peak due to the addition of boric acid indicated suppression of complex formation.