Dynamics of branched threadlike micelles

The rheological behavior of a cationic surfactant trimer, recently suggested to form blanched threadlike micelles, is reported. Comparison with the homologous dimer, which forms strictly linear micelles, shows that the main consequence of branching is a distinctive concentration dependence of the elastic modulus. When the system is not fully entangled, a decrease of the elastic modulus suggests a contraction of the radius of gyration due to branching. In the fully entangled regime, the elasticity enhancement provides a measure of the junction density.