APPARATUS TO MEASURE SMALL-ANGLE LIGHT-SCATTERING PROFILES OF POLYMERS UNDER SHEAR-FLOW

The apparatus and the principle to measure flow small-angle light scattering ('flow-SALS') are presented as one of the rheo-optical techniques. The flow-SALS technique presented here enables one to investigate small-angle light scattering profiles and rheological properties of polymer solutions, liquids, and mixtures, as well as polymer liquid crystals under various types of shearing, i. e. , steady-state shear flow, oscillatory shear flow, and shear recovery after the cessation of steady-state flow. This technique may be useful to investigate the flow-induced formation, dissolution, and deformation of supermolecular structure with spatial correlation length of a few microns, and also their effect on rheological properties. In order to demonstrate the prospect of its use, some preliminary results on flow-SALS from the lyotropic polymer liquid crystal left bracket 20wt% poly( gamma -methyl-D-glutamate) in m-cresol right bracket are presented.