Paper Number
PO67 

Session
Poster Session

Title
Rheology of an associating polymer solution: Poly(vinyl alcohol) in water

Presentation Date and Time
October 13, 2021 (Wednesday) 6:30

Track / Room
Poster Session / Ballroom 1-2-3-4

Authors (Click on name to view author profile)

  1. Ditillo, Colin D. (Penn State University)
  2. Parisi, Daniele (FORTH, IESL)
  3. Lindberg, Seth (Procter & Gamble, Process and Engineering Development)
  4. Hamersky, Mark W. (Proctor & Gamble)
  5. Colby, Ralph H. (The Pennsylvania State University, Material Science and Engineering)

Author and Affiliation Lines (in printed abstract book)
Colin D. Ditillo1, Daniele Parisi1, Seth Lindberg2, Mark W. Hamersky2 and Ralph H. Colby1
1Material Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; 2Process and Engineering Development, Procter & Gamble, West Chester, OH 45069

Speaker / Presenter 
Ditillo, Colin D.

Keywords
experimental methods; applied rheology; polymer solutions

Text of Abstract
Multiple grades of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with varying molecular weight and degree of hydrolysis were investigated to explore the associating effect on the shear rheology of these polymers in aqueous solution. Viscosity measurements on PVA solutions at high concentration showed positive deviation from the predicted specific viscosity scaling of polymer solutions without associations in the entangled regime. This also translates to longer-than-expected relaxation times for these entangled solutions. In dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvent, the same effect is not seen, and the predicted scalings for the concentration dependences of specific viscosity and relaxation time for polymer solutions without associations are recovered. Having one solvent that avoids association effects (DMSO) is very enabling for quantifying the association effects on rheology in water. Investigations into the effects of degree of hydrolysis and solvent mixture have shown that in ternary solutions, the system becomes very complex, and therefore the particular dominant interactions between hydrogen bonding groups that results in the associations are not yet fully understood.