Investigating the effect of hydrophobic structural parameters on the thickening properties of HEUR associative copolymers

Hydrophobically modified ethoxylated urethanes (HEUR) associative copolymers are prepared through the hydrophobic modification of polyethylene glycol based polyurethanes. These types of thickeners are categorized as anionic associative thickeners. To investigate the effect of structure of the hydrophobic groups on the thickening properties, three different hydrophobic groups were selected. These groups were comprised of cetyl alcohol (16 carbons), dodecyl alcohol (12 carbons) and a cyclic group such as cyclo hexanol. These functional groups were substituted on the identical prepolymers made from H₁₂MDI and polyethylene glycol. Here, three different urethane associative polymers containing hydrophobic segments and different hydrophobic groups were synthesized. The viscoelastic characteristics of all the samples were determined using a cone and plate rheometer. The viscosities of the examined HEUR samples showed both Newtonian and non-Newtonian behaviours (shear thinning and thickening) for the explored shear rates window. The steady shear viscosity results were interpreted using the theories by Raspaud Macromolecules 27 (1994) 2956] and Semenov Macromolecules 28 (1995) 1066]. The Cox-Merz rule happened to be applicable to these systems for the various hydrophobic ends and concentrations at lower shear rates indicating typical associative polymer behaviour. The cyclic end groups did not show viscoelasticity for the frequencies window explored. The zero shear viscosity increased by almost two orders of magnitude from HEUR-cyc to HEUR-dod and by four orders of magnitude from HEUR-cyc to HEUR-cet. The intermediate shear thickening was only observed for the concentrated HEUR-cet samples.