Optorheological thickening under the pulsed laser photocrosslinking of a polymer

• Published in: Journal of applied polymer science Vol. 131; no. 17; pp. np - n/a
• Main Authors: Okoniewski, Stephen Richard, Wisniewski, Danielle, Frazer, N. Laszlo, Mu, Weiqiang, Arceo, Andrew, Rathi, Pranjali, Ketterson, J. B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, NJ Blackwell Publishing Ltd 05.09.2014; Wiley; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Channels; Colloids; crosslinking; Crosslinking and degradation; Exact sciences and technology; Glycols; irradiation; kinetics; Materials science; Phenyls; Physicochemistry of polymers; Polymers; Polymers and radiations; Polystyrene resins; Pulsed lasers; Settling; viscoelasticity; Viscosity; Viscosity; Viscoelasticity; Tracer technique; Ethylene oxide copolymer; Experimental study; Solution polymerization; irradiation; Crosslinked copolymer; Ethylene oxide polymer; Radiation dose; Cyclic ether polymer; Cyclic ether copolymer; Pulsed laser; Photopolymerization; Styrene polymer; Prepolymer; Kinetics; Methacrylate copolymer; Aqueous solution; crosslinking; Thickening; Rheological properties
• ISSN: 0021-8995; 1097-4628
• DOI: 10.1002/app.40690

ABSTRACT Electro‐, magneto‐, and other rheological effects can be used to externally control fluid viscosity. However, they are largely reversible and in addition subject to colloidal settling, electrostatic breakdown, or high cost. In the experiments described here the dependence of the viscosity of a polymer solution under pulsed laser photocrosslinking as a function of radiation dose is determined using the Brownian motion of colloidal polystyrene tracers that were optically confined to a one dimensional channel. The system studied was a transparent aqueous solution of poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate together with a 1‐hydroxycyclohexyl phenyl ketone photoinitiator. An increase in the viscosity of the solution with the laser fluence was observed. The growth was exponential, stable between pulses, and spanned nearly three orders of magnitude. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40690.