Rheological properties of aqueous solutions of polyacrylamide and hydroxyethylcellulose in extensional and shear flow

The aim of this work was to compare the rheological properties in shear and extensional flow of polymer aqueous solutions: ionic polyacrylamide (Rokrysol WF2), non-ionic partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (Rokrysol WF1) and hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC) - differing in the structure of the polymer chain. Extensional viscosity measurements were made with an opposed-nozzle self-designed device. The experimental results show that polymers with a flexible chain structure (WF1, WF2) have higher values of the apparent extensional viscosity and Trouton ratio Tr-B. In the rheometric curves of Rokrysol WF1 and WF2 solutions the shear thinning and shear thickening ranges can be observed. In the case of the polymer having a rigid chain structure (HEC) the Trouton number shows an approximately constant value between 3 and 5 s(-1) in the range of the apparent strain rate from 1 to 8 s(-1). At higher strain rate values (epsilon(a)) the Tr-B increases to about 41.