Rheological Behavior of Aqueous Polymer Solutions

Polymers are extensively used to modify the rheological properties of solutions in different industries. This study is focused on the investigation of rheological characteristics of various types of polymers. These polymers include partially hydrolyzed, solfunated and associative polyacrylamides with different properties. The investigations were made of polymer solution apparent viscosity measurement using a rotational viscometer. The effect of parameters such as polymer molecular weight and concentration, shear rate, salinity and nature of polymer and solvent is evaluated. The results show that for all kinds of polymer, the apparent viscosity is directly proportional to the polymer molecular weight and concentration and inversely proportional to shear rate. In other words, all polymer solutions show pseudo-plastic (shear thinning) behavior. However, the shear rate dependence of viscosity varies for different polymer types. Besides, viscosity reduction due to salt addition is a strong function of polymer nature

Keywords:

Rheological Behavior , Polyacrylamide , Associative Polymer , Shear Thinning