Dynamics of polymer-like lecithin micelles. Rheological measurements

The dynamics of polymer-like lecithin micelles was considered within the fr amework of the Cates model. A new formalized procedure was proposed to dete rmine the relaxation times. Characteristic times of micelle reptations and dissociation were calculated according to the proposed procedure from exper imental data obtained in the mode of low-amplitude oscillations. The depend ence of relaxation times on molar water-lecithin ratio in n-hexane-based or ganogel was considered. The characteristic time of reptations was found to increase with water concentration in the region of linear micelle existence and plateaus during the transition to the region of the existence of branc hed micelles. The characteristic time of micelle dissociation remains virtu ally constant within the studied range of the molar water-lecithin ratio. I t was shown that the characteristic time of reptation is proportional to th e molar ratio of lecithin to the power of 3.6 +/- 0.3, which agrees well wi th the theoretical scaling dependence.