Water‐soluble polymers. LXXXIII. Correlation of experimentally determined drag reduction efficiency and extensional viscosity of high molecular weight polymers in dilute aqueous solution

Abstract

AbstractThe extensional viscosity for aqueous solutions of high molecular weight poly(acrylamide) copolymers and poly(ethylene oxide) homopolymers was measured using a laboratory‐designed screen extensional rheometer. A Bingham model was developed to estimate the average local polymer coil extensional viscosity (ηcoil). A strong correlation was found between the measured ηcoil values and the polymer extensional viscosity predicted by a bead‐spring model. The dilute aqueous solution drag reduction was measured with a rotating disk instrument under conditions minimizing the effects of shear degradation. Extensional viscosity and drag reduction measurements were performed in deionized water and in 0.514M sodium chloride. The relative drag reduction efficiency values (Δ) in both solvents were found to strongly correlate with measured ηcoil values. This is the first report of the accurate prediction of drag reduction behavior for a wide range of polymer types in various solvents from the independently measured molecular parameters ηcoil and [η]C. The often‐used relative drag reduction efficiency expressed as the product of [η]C and Δ can now be replaced by the absolute drag reduction efficiency [η]Cηcoil. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 82: 1222–1231, 2001