Density and viscosity studies of poly(ethylene-oxide) alkyl alcohols

Density and viscosity of binary systems water-nonionic surfactants poly(ethylenoxide) alkyl alcohols type, [CnH2n+1(OCH2CH2)(m)OH, C(n)E(m)], have been studied. The partial molar volumes in the dilute solution range and the viscosity B-coefficients were calculated. The nonionic surfactants partial molar volumes were compared with those of ethylene glycol and poly(ethylenglycol) (PEG). The comparison shows that the ethoxy unit volume, (V) over tilde(o) (OCH2CH2), seems to be independent of the particular system. The consequences of this are discussed. A model for interpreting the experimental B values has been proposed. The model treats the macroscopic viscosity as the superimposition of different local effects. The following surfactants have been considered: C(5)E(1), C(5)E(2), C(6)E(1), C(6)E(2), C(6)E(3), C(6)E(4).