Viscoelastic properties of liquid crystals of aqueous biopolymer solutions

The formation of aqueous, lyotropic phases of the biopolymers xanthan (M = 1.6·10⁶) and schizophyllan (M _W = 335 000) is investigated with stationary shear flow and oscillatory measurements, as well as with the aid of polarization microscopy, because these polymers show very different viscoelastic properties from coiled vinyl polymers. Xanthan and schizophyllan exhibit the same typical behavior observed in anisotropic solutions when the viscosity is plotted as a function of concentration and of shear rate. It has also been observed that the first normal stress difference for concentrated xanthan solutions shows a saturation effect at increasing shear rate. In oscillatory measurements only schizophyllan exhibits an maximum for the storage modulus. The absence of a such an elasticity maximum in the case of the xanthan solution may be attributed to the significantly higher flexibility of the xanthan helix. A comparison of the critical concentrations calculated according to Flory's theory and the experimentally determined values shows that the two-phase region is distinctly broader than the theory predicts. This deviation cannot be attributed to the flexibility of the polymer, but can, however, be explained by intermolecular interactions. In contrast to the non-charged schizophyllan the polyelectrolyte xanthan is affected in addition to the attractive interactions (H-bonds) by electrostatic repulsion forces.This paper was partly presented at the 198th ACS National Meeting in Miami Beach, Florida, Sept. 10–15, 1989 .