Collective motions of a network of wormlike micelles

Aqueous solutions of non-ionic amphiphile C16E7 (=C16H33(OC2H4)(7)OH) are k nown to form "wormlike micelles", whose static properties are analogously u nderstood as chain-like polymers. However, their dynamical properties are d ifferent from those of polymers because the micelles not only entangle but also fuse each other. In order to clarify collective motions of the wormlik e micelles, neutron spin echo measurements were carried out. Observed corre lation functions were explained by a stretched exponential function with an index of 3/4, The obtained relaxation rates obeyed Q(8/3) as Zilman and Gr anek (Phys. Rev. Lett. 77 (1996) 4788) expected for the one-dimensional pol ymer-like model. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.