Rheology of stiff-chain polymer solutions

Abstract

Theoretical expressions for the intrinsic viscosity, the Huggins coefficient, zero-shear viscosity, and storage and loss moduli for stiff-chain polymer solutions are reviewed. Especially, the mean-field Green function method is explained in detail to consider the intermolecular collision effect on the rheological properties of concentrated stiff-chain polymer solutions, by applying the method to monodisperse and polydisperse straight cylinders and monodisperse fuzzy cylinder models. The theoretical expressions reviewed are compared with experimental results for aqueous solutions of two rigid helical polysaccharides, schizophyllan and xanthan.

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