PREDICTION OF RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES IN POLYMER COLLOIDS

The rheological properties of concentrated suspensions, containing sterically stabilized polymer colloids, are reviewed. It is shown that the various rheological characteristics are strongly interrelated in such systems. They deviate from Brownian hard sphere behaviour, but these deviations are closely related to the interparticle potential and other colloidal characteristics like particle diffusivity. As a result the rheological properties can be predicted from the colloidal characteristics and vice versa. This is demonstrated by means of available data on well characterized model dispersions. In the experiments volume fraction, particle size, suspending medium and temperature have been changed. Data reduction schemes and scaling laws for these parameters are discussed.