Determination of the Type of Aggregates in Mixture Solutions of Some Polymers

Abstract

It was found that when mixing solutions of two polymers, due to the low affinity of polymers to each other, there is an increase in the aggregation processes of macromolecules. The type of formed supramolecular structures is determined, first of all, by the nature of possible intermolecular interactions between polymers: the preference of polymer1-polymer1 (homoaggregates) or polymer1-polymer2 (heteroaggregates) contacts. It was shown that solutions of polymer mixtures in all studied cases are characterized by a higher degree of aggregation than solutions of individual polymers. For the solutions of mixtures of sodium succinyl chitosan with sodium salt of carboxylcellulose and sodium salt of succinyl chitosan with polyvinyl alcohol, the formation of homoaggregates is characteristic, and for mixtures of chitosan and polyvinyl alcohol, the formation of heteroaggregates is predominant. This is evidenced by the deviations of the intrinsic viscosity values to the lower and higher sides from the additive values, respectively. It was shown that the type of aggregates formed will be one of the determining factors that have a significant effect on the properties of materials formed from polymer solutions.