화학공학소재연구정보센터
Rheologica Acta, Vol.59, No.6, 365-374, 2020
Rheological properties of sodium alginate solutions in the presence of added salt: an application of Kulicke equation
Mark-Houwink parameters are determined for sodium alginate with low (SA LV) and medium (SA MV) molecular mass via a rheological approach. Firstly, salt screening concentration and polyelectrolyte nature of the polymers are investigated. Despite both alginates behaving as neutral polymer in theta solvent, differences are observed between them with the strong associative nature of SA MV highlighted by an abnormal high viscosity concentration dependence compared with the predicted values. The polysaccharide-specific hydrodynamic volume (i.e., intrinsic viscosity) is determined via Fedors approach, which is proved to provide accurate results applicable to a wide concentration range. A viscosity-molecular mass-concentration relationship is finally derived to calculate Mark-Houwink parameters via a non-linear regression according to Kulicke equation; the obtained values are consistent with those reported in literature, confirming the semi-flexible nature of SA in the investigated environment and proving the effectiveness of the proposed approach for polyelectrolytes with added salt ions.