A theory of viscosity of dilute and moderately concentrated polymer solutions

A model theory of viscosity η for moderately concentrated polymer solutions is based on the assumption of a “local viscosity” effect and intermolecular hydrodynamic and thermodynamic interactions. It is shown that η is given by

$\text{η = η}{}_{\mathrm{o}}\text{{1 + γcη]}}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{·}\text{exp}\text{H}{}_{\mathrm{o}}\text{RT}\text{aø}\text{1 ? aø}$

where γ is 0–0.4 and depends on the quality of the solvent, a varies between 0,4 and 0.8 and depends on the fraction of the “free volume” of the systems, H₀ is the activation energy of the solvent and π is the polymer volume concentration. The dependence of η and “activation energy” of π and T for various molecular weights and qualities of solvents is described quantitatively. Anomalous dependences of η] and of η on M for low polymer are obtained. An expression for η is proposed:

$\text{η}\text{η}{}_{\mathrm{o}}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1\; ?\; 2</mtext><mtext>K</mtext>}}\text{= {1 + (1 ? 2K)cη]}F(π)}$

where K is the Huggins-Martin coefficient and F(π) = 1 for most solutions when T is > T_g. For poor solvents the H vs c curve (where H is the activation energy of η of solution) has a minimum value at moderate concentrations. For good solvents, H depends slightly on the molecular weight according to an empirical equation:

$\text{H = H}{}_{\mathrm{o}}\text{+}\text{660}\text{α}{}^3\text{1}\text{n}\text{η}\text{η}{}_{\mathrm{o}}$

Expressions are given from the viscosities of solutions of miscible and also solutions of immiscible polymers.