Rheological properties of hydrophobically modified polyelectrolyte systems: Concentration effects

The behavior of hydrophobically modified alkali‐soluble associative polymer (HASE) at various polymer concentrations was investigated. The results showed that the formation of network structure, which enhances the rheological behavior, depends on two critical polymer concentrations, namely the critical cluster overlapping concentration (C*) and the established network concentration (C**). C* is defined as the critical concentration for the transformation of individual cluster to a transient network structure. C** represents the critical concentration in the semidilute regime where the formation of transient network is completely established. Experimental results demonstrated that the polymer solutions transformed from a predominantly viscous behavior below C* to one with dominant elastic properties above C**. Because of the formation of larger aggregation number above C**, the relaxation times of the polymer systems shift to longer times.