Langmuir, Vol.14, No.16, 4475-4481, 1998
Storage stability and rheological behavior of talc-polyacrylylglycinamide gelified suspensions
The rheological behavior of physically cross-linked polyacrylylglycinamide hydrogels at 4% (w/w), without and in the presence of a 10% (w/w) talc particle concentration, has been investigated. The thermoreversible gelation, studied in oscillatory shear regime, indicated for these systems melting temperatures below 310 K. The presence of the talc particles was found to lower the elastic contribution of the entangled network. The gelified systems were found to exhibit a comparable thixotropic behavior, allowing them to recover their initial structure after application of a structure-breaker mechanical treatment. The storage stability of the gelified talc suspensions was ascribed to the strong interaction between the constitutive entangled polymer chains of the network and the hydroxylated surface sites of the talc particles through hydrogen bondings.