Micellization and gelation of mixed copolymers P123 and F127 in aqueous solution

The micellization in dilute aqueous solution of Pluronic copolymers P123 (E21P67E21) and F127 (E98P67E98) and mixtures of the two was investigated using static and dynamic light scattering. Gelation of concentrated solutions of the two copolymers and their mixtures was studied using tube inversion and oscillatory rheometry. The two copolymers comicellized to give micelles with narrow size distributions. Clouding temperatures and critical micelle temperatures decreased as the proportion of P123 in the mixture was increased. Micelle association numbers of the mixed micelles lay between the values found for micelles of P123 and F127 alone, whereas micelle radii passed through maximum values in the range 0-50 wt % P123. As judged by the ratio of the thermodynamic to the hydrodynamic radius, the micelle interaction potential changes gradually from soft to hard as the proportion of P123 in the mixture is increased. Regions of cubic and hexagonal (birefringent) gel were defined for concentrated solutions. The high-temperature boundary of the 30 wt % cubic gel decreased monotonically from 90 to 43 degrees C as the proportion of P123 in the mixture was increased from 0 to 100 wt %, whereas the low-temperature boundary was essentially constant at 15 +/- 3 degrees C. Increasing the proportion of P123 in the mixture at 25 degrees C increased the concentration at which the cubic gel was first formed and decreased the concentration at which the hexagonal gel was first formed.