Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Rheology Of Aqueous Suspensions Of Polystyrene Latex Stabilized By Grafted Poly(Ethylene Oxide), Harry J. Ploehn, J. W. Goodwin

Faculty Publications

A water-soluble carbodiimide has been used to end-graft aminated poly (ethylene oxide)(PEO) chemically onto colloidal polystyrene particles. Two particle sizes (115 and 347 nm diameter) and two PEO molecular weights (112 000 and 615 000 g mol^–1) were combined to give suspensions with four different ratios of polymer layer thickness to particle radius. Electrophoresis demonstrated that the PEO was grafted, not just adsorbed. Dynamic light scattering showed that the adsorbed and grafted layers had similar structures and that non-ionic surfactant perturbed the PEO configurations. Steady shear and oscillatory rheometry indicated that long-ranged polymeric forces between particles governed the …