| Abstract: | The crosslinking of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with glutaraldehyde at 80 °C was characterized by viscosity and pulse field gradient (PFG) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. NMR signified an initial dormant period of approximately 6 hr, in which the self‐diffusion coefficient of PVA was found to be constant and independent of time. During the next 7 hr (the “primary” gel period), this induction period was succeeded by a fast decay of the self‐diffusion coefficient of rate (9.13 ± 0.45) × 10−5 sec−1 followed by a slower decay rate of (3.22 ± 0.30) × 10−5 sec−1 (the “secondary” gel period). The viscosity of the solution showed the same time behavior, i.e. an initial dormant period (∼ 6 hrs), followed by a fast increase of the viscosity for the next 7 –8 hr. During the “secondary” gel regime, the viscosity became too large to be reliably determined. However, within the time regime where both techniques produced reliable data, they gave identical information regarding the kinetics of the gel process, suggesting that PFG NMR enables in situ monitoring of gelation within porous materials (for instance sandstone). Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
