Thickening behavior and synergistic mechanism of mixed system of two hydrophobically associating polymers

The thickening behavior and synergistic mechanism of the mixed system of the hydrophobically associating polymer (HAP-S) (acrylamide/acrylate-EOm-POn/sodium acrylate terpolymer) with small molecular weight and the acrylamide/N-isooctyl acrylamide/sodium acrylate terpolymer (HAP-L) with large molecular weight were investigated via the rheology, inclusion action of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), cohesive energy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The apparent viscosity of the mixed-system solution was higher than that of the HAP solution alone in a wide range of mass ratios and concentrations of the two polymers, ascribing to the enhancement of associated viscosity and strength of the network structure by forming mixed aggregates and bridging among them. Furthermore, the hydrodynamic radius of the mixed-system aggregates increased due to the improved network structure and the electrostatic repulsion effect among the different kinds of HAP molecules. Under the synthetical influence of the above-mentioned factors, the mixed system displayed better temperature resistance and salt tolerance as compared to the HAP solution alone.