Rheology of alkali-soluble associative polymers in aqueous solution

Abstract

An experimental study was carried out on the rheological properties of aqueous solutions of four model HASE associative polymers which have essentially the same chemical structure and molecular weight but different carbon content on the n-alkyl hydrophobic moiety. Studies on the pH effects revealed that solutions of these model polymers needed to be neutralized to a pH above 6.5 to develop full thickening efficiency. Excess alkali content in the solution, on the other hand, had a negative effect on the thickening efficiency of these model polymers.