Rheological behavior of cellulose/monohydrate of n-methylmorpholine n-oxide solutions Part 1: Liquid state

Steady-state and dynamic experiments have been performed on solutions containing cellulose dissolved in monohydrate of N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO). The dependence of the zero-shear viscosity η₀, and of the terminal relaxation time τ _c , on concentration, average degree of polymerization (DP) and temperature are discussed. The behavior of this semi-rigid, polymolecular polymer in solution differs from that of flexible monodisperse ones. The slope of the plot of log(η₀) versus, on the one hand, log(c) at fixed molecular weight (DP)=600, and, on the other hand, log(DP) at fixed concentration (c=5%w/w) are equal to 4.6 and 5 respectively, instead of 3.4 in the concentrated region. Experimental data for the shear modulus were fitted using the classical Doi-Edwards equation with a log normal distribution of relaxation time. This distribution is compared to the distribution of DP. Received: 25 February1997 Accepted: 30 December 1997