STATICS AND DYNAMICS OF WORM-LIKE SURFACTANT MICELLES

In certain surfactant solutions, such as aqueous cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in 0.1 M KBr, the amphiphiles are found to assemble reversibly into long, flexible worm-like micelles. Above a few per cent surfactant, these form an entangled viscoelastic fluid, reminiscent of a polymer solution. The authors review some recent experimental and theoretical progress concerning the equilibrium statistics and dynamics of these systems, which differ from normal polymer solutions in that the chains can break and reform reversibly.