Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose Rheological Behavior in a Water Mixture for Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Sodium carboxymethylcellulose Na-CMC is derived from cellulose fibers. Knowledge of the behavior of Na-CMC as a charged polysaccharide in solution is important, because most of its biomedical industrial applications utilize its solutions. The main objective of our research described here was to determine the rheological and viscometric properties of polysaccharide solutions of Na-CMC in water (W), as a function of the cutting speed and the polymer concentration. The evolution of reduced dynamic viscosities and the effect of the Gibbs energy of Na-CMC in W were characterized as a function of the temperature (15 °C to 45 °C), and concentration (1 to 10) g/l. We identified three main concentration regimes, corresponding to a dilute regime, a critical regime, and the semi-dilute regime. The thermodynamic parameters of the viscosity also supported the obtained results. Our results show that Na-CMC/W is a promising solvent mixture for use in pharmaceutical and antibacterial applications.