ANALYSIS OF THE VISCOUS BEHAVIOR OF POLYMERIC SOLUTIONS

Viscosity data of an aluminum soap solution, a polyisobutylene solution, a polyacrylamide solution, and ten polystyrene solutions have been analysed using two rheological models: the Carreau model A and the Ellis model. The model parameters were obtained by non‐linear regression. The importance of the zero‐shear viscosity for design purposes is illustrated by observing the appearance of a master curve in the representation of the dimensionless viscosity versus the product of the zero‐shear viscosity by the shear rate. A linear relation is shown to exist between the logarithm of the zero‐shear viscosity and the polymer concentration. It is asserted that either model should replace advantageously the commonly used power‐law expression. Copyright © 1979 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering