The correlation properties of polyethylene glycol in dimethyl sulphoxide by viscosimetric study

This paper presents the experimental analysis of viscosimetric properties of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in dimethyl sulphoxide DMSO. By the viscosimetric study of solutions of PEG/DMSO, the dynamic viscosity was measured under the influence of increasing PEG concentration (1 g/l to 10 g/l) and increasing temperature (15°C to 45°C). The reduced dynamic viscosity and the activation energy of reduced dynamic viscosity Eη are calculated. The polymer solutions exhibited a critical concentration c**, separating dilute solutions into extremely dilute solutions and dilute solutions. The most important results refer to the activation energy of reduced dynamic viscosity found from Arrhenius plots. The dependence of the activation energy on solution concentration and temperature is discussed. PEG behaviour can be extrapolated from the Flory-Huggins theory by decomposing such as Eη = (Eη)ex di + (Eη)di + (Eη)cri. The extremely dilute solution behaviour of Arrhenius is described by the PEG-DMSO interaction and represented by the function (Eη)ex di. For the dilute solution behaviour of non-Arrhenius which is described by the interaction between the PEG-PEG and represented by the function (Eη)di. The critical solution behaviour of is described by the PEG-PEG and PEG-DMSO interactions and represented by the function (Eη)cri. Principles that aid one to understand and interpret such results are discussed.