Résumé. 2014 Nous examinons les résultats d'expérience de diffusion de neutrons aux petits angles (10-2 q 2 x 10-1 Å-1) par des solutions de sulfonate de polystyrène dans l'eau pour des concentrations supérieures à 0,5 x 10-2 g. cm-3.Avec de l'eau ultra pure, l'absence de diffusion centrale et la présence d'un maximum pour les plus grandes valeurs de q caractérisent la fonction de diffusion S(q). Les deux effets étudiés, variation de la concentration en polyions et addition de sel, conduisent à des résultats différents : la position du maximum varie avec la concentration de polyions alors qu'avec l'addition de sel, on note l'apparition de diffusion centrale et disparition du maximum.Abstract. 2014 Solutions of polyelectrolyte are studied by small angle neutron scattering for c > 0.5 x 10-2 g. cm -3.The function S(q) is characterized by a small value of S'(q ~ 0) and one broad maximum for higher q's

Rheological properties and percolation in suspensions ofAbstract This paper is concerned with several issues related to the rheological behavior of polycarbonate/ multiwalled carbon nanotube nanocomposites. The composites were prepared by diluting a masterbatch of 15 wt.% nanotubes using melt-mixing method, and the dispersion was analyzed by SEM, TEM, and AFM techniques. To understand the percolated structure, the nanocomposites were characterized via a set of rheological, electrical, and thermal conductivity measurements. The rheological measurements revealed that the structure and properties were temperature dependent; the percolation threshold was significantly lower at higher temperature suggesting stronger nanotube interactions. The nanotube networks were also sensitive to the steady shear deformation particularly at high temperature. Following preshearing, the elastic modulus decreased markedly suggesting that the nanotubes became more rigid. These results were analyzed using simple models for suspensions of rod-like particles. Finally, the rheological, electrical, and thermal conductivity percolation thresholds were compared. As expected, the rheological threshold was smaller than the thermal and electrical threshold.

International audienceThe rheological behavior of two series of model suspensions containing the same glass fibers in a Newtonian polybutene and in a Boger fluid has also been investigated. The steady-state shear viscosity of both supensions increased with fiber content, but the suspensions in the Boger fluid became shear thinning. Both types of suspension exhibited non-negligible normal stresses. The steady-state viscosity and normal stress difference of the supensions in the polybutene are well predicted by the Lipscomb ~1987! equation coupled with the Folgar–Tucker ~1984! model. Both types of fiber suspensions were shown to exhibit shear and normal stress overshoots in stress growth experiments. Under flow reversal, a shear stress overshoot was observed at a larger deformation compared to the primary overshoot. The reverse overshoot has been attributed to tumbling of fibers that are not totally aligned in the flow direction even after a very long time. When the flow was reversed, the normal stress difference took initially mimimum values ~negative values in the polybutene case! and then depicted a smaller positive overshoot before reaching a steady-state value. The normal stress undershoot has been attributed to a transient fiber-oriented structure. The shape and the magnitude of these overshoots depend on the fiber content, nature of the matrix, and time delay between consecutive experiments

We have investigated experimentally the behavior of a water soluble associating polymer system, hydrophobically modified (hydroxypropyl)guar, with very few randomly distributed hydrophobic substituents along the chains. We focus mainly on the rheological effects due to the superposition of the reversible hydrophobic interaction network on the physical entanglement network in dense macromolecular systems of that kind. Both linear and nonlinear response to transient, steady, and oscillatory shear flow prove that, in the semidilute and moderately concentrated regime, the hydrophobically associating polymer behaves like a classical dense macromolecular system whose long-time dynamics can be described using only one long relaxation time, identified as a retarded disengagement time, much larger than the association lifetime. The temporary hydrophobically associating network can be destroyed when applying a critical shear stress τc, which is studied as a function of polymer concentration.

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