Effects of Propylene Glycol on the Rheological Properties of the Solutions of Poly(vinyl alcohol) in Dimethyl Sulfoxide

摘要

Owing to high crystallinity polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) films suffer from lack of toughness. To enhance toughness of the films some additives such as plasticizers are usually introduced. In this study, the rheological responses of the solutions of general-purpose PVA in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) were investigated in terms of the loading level of a plasticizer, propylene glycol. All the solutions tested exhibited flow behavior near to Newtonian fluids. Introducing the plasticizer affected the rheological properties of PVA. On a modified Cole-Cole plot, the solutions gave curves of slope less than 2, predicted for homogeneous polymer systems. Further, the slope slightly decreased with increasing plasticizer content. Viscosity, storage and loss moduli, and tanδ were also changed with the amount of the plasticizer.