Viscosity enhancement of complexed solutions formed through the complexation of nonionic water-soluble polymers with chemically complementary structures in aqueous media

Abstract

The intermacromolecular complexation of polymers with chemically complementary structures in aqueous media is a new approach to modifying polymer solutions, especially to enhance solution viscosity. In this study, complexed solutions formed through the hydrogen-bonding complexation of several nonionic water-soluble polymer pairs—poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) with polyacrylamide (PAM), PAM with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), PAA with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), and PEO with PVA—were prepared, and the viscosity enhancement of the complexed solutions were studied with vision spectrophotometry and viscometry. The effects of the polymer concentration, polymer molecular weight, and pH value of the polymer solution on the intermacromolecular interactions were investigated through a comparison of the viscosity enhancement factor R of different complexed solutions. The results show that the viscosity of the PAA/PAM complexed solution is much higher than that of its constituents, whereas that of the PAM/PEO and the PAA/PVA complexed solutions are between the viscosities of their constituents but are higher than the theory values calculated from the blending rule of two polymer solutions. These results indicate that in the complexed solutions there exist interactions between the macromolecules with chemically complementary structures, although the interactions are quite different for the different complexed systems. It is the interactions that lead to an association of the polymers and, hence, an obvious enhancement in the solution viscosity and the resistance of the polymer solutions to shearing. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 1069–1077, 2000