Mt. Truong et Lm. Walker, Controlling the shear-induced structural transition of rodlike micelles using nonionic polymer, LANGMUIR, 16(21), 2000, pp. 7991-7998
We demonstrate that nonionic polymer can be used to control the shear-induc
ed transition observed in the cationic rodlike micellar system of cetyltrim
ethylammonium p-toluene sulfonate (CTAT). Hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) sup
presses this transition, while poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) enhances the zero
-shear viscosity, with little change to the critical rates of the transitio
n. It is proposed that the availability of hydrophobic moieties of HPC allo
ws for its influence on the onset of the transition. This is consistent wit
h binding, rheological, and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) studies.
Furthermore, quiescent SANS shows that both polymers affect intermicellar i
nteractions, solvent-micelle interactions, and/or micellar length. While th
e onset of the shear-induced transition may be altered with polymer, polyme
r composition does not affect micellar flexibility and/or interactions in t
he aligned transitioned state.