Ultrasonic Degradation of Hydroxypropyl Cellulose Solutions in Water, Ethanol, and Tetrahydrofuran

Ultrasonic degradations of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) have been carried out in water, ethanol, and tetrahydrofuran (THF) solutions. In the HPC-water system, cavitation intensity did not increase linearly with ultrasound intensity because of a lower threshold of ultrasonic intensity below which cavitation does not occur. At 27°C the rate of degradation in the three solvents followed the order water > ethanol > THF which is not in line with their characteristic impedance values. The rate of degradation for 20 kHz, 70 W ultrasound intensity was found to increase with a decrease in solution volumes, concentration of HPC, and temperature. Increased rate of degradation at lower temperatures supports the concept based on sonoluminescence experiments that it is the cavitation in a polymer solution that is responsible for ultrasonic degradations and the dissolved polymer molecules do not act as cavitation nuclei. Increased surface tension and density of the solvent are thought to be responsible for improved cavitation at low temperatures. Infrared spectroscopy and x-ray analysis of HPC subjected to ultrasonic treatments remained unchanged, suggesting that there were no chemical or structural (e.g., degree of order) changes on irradiation. The decreases in molecular weights on irradiation arise due to random chain scission whereas similar decreases in Huggins coefficients can be attributed to physical changes (decrease in molecular weight or branching) in the degraded HPC samples.