Title:	Experimental studies of the jamming behaviour of triblock copolymer solutions and triblock copolymer-anionic surfactant mixtures
Authors:	Basak, R. Mukhopadhyay, N. Bandyopadhyay, Ranjini
Keywords:	Condensed Matter Soft Condensed Matter
Issue Date:	Jul-2010
Publisher:	EDP Sciences
Citation:	European Physical Journal E, 2010, Vol.34, p103
Abstract:	Photon correlation spectroscopy and rheological measurements are performed to investigate the microscopic dynamics and mechanical responses of aqueous solutions of triblock copolymers and aqueous mixtures of triblock copolymers and anionic surfactants. Increasing the concentration of triblock copolymers results in a sharp increase in the magnitude of the complex moduli characterising the samples. This is understood in terms of the changes in the aggregation and packing behaviours of the copolymers and the constraints imposed upon their dynamics due to increased close packing. The addition of suitable quantities of an anionic surfactant to a strongly elastic copolymer solution results in a decrease in the complex moduli of the samples by several decades. It is argued that the shape anisotropy and size polydispersity of the micelles comprising mixtures cause dramatic changes in the packing behaviour, resulting in sample unjamming and the observed decrease in complex moduli. Finally, a phase diagram is constructed in the temperature-surfactant concentration plane to summarise the jamming-unjamming behaviour of aggregates constituting triblock copolymer-anionic surfactant mixtures.
Description:	Open Access
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/2289/4215
ISSN:	1292-8941 1292-895X (Online)
Alternative Location:	http://arxiv.org/abs/1007.2334 http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2011-11103-y http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010arXiv1007.2334B
Copyright:	2011 EDP Sciences
Appears in Collections:	Research Papers (SCM)

Items in RRI Digital Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.