Soft water-soluble microgel dispersions: structure and rheology

The size and structural characteristics of polyacrylamide-based water-soluble microgel dispersions were investigated by optical and rheological methods. Microgel hydrodynamic radii Rh were measured by light scattering and derived from intrinsic shear viscosity [eta]0. The variations of Rh3 and [eta]0 with the crosslink density Nx, follow the scaling law Rh3 congruent withNx(-alpha) with alpha close to 0.63, in good agreement with the simple structural model proposed in this paper showing how the exact value of alpha depends on inner structural details of the microgel. The plateau viscosity versus particle apparent volume fraction shows a monotonous change from hard sphere dispersions (high crosslink density of microgels) to flexible linear polymer solutions. Measurements of the first normal stress difference N1 show that increasing the microgel crosslink density affects the system viscosity more than its elasticity. Under oscillatory shear flow, loss and storage moduli undergo both qualitative and quantitative changes with crosslink density. At moderate concentrations, the elastic modulus is the most affected and its slope in low frequency regime decreases from two to less than one as Nx increases. We discuss the experimental results within the frame of knowledge on linear, branched polymer solutions and soft microgel suspensions.