Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Polymer concentration regulated aging in aqueous Laponite suspensions

  • Original Contribution
  • Published:
Rheologica Acta Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

By rheologically examining poly(vinyl alcohol)-water-Laponite multicomponent suspensions, we report evidence of concentration of adsorbing polymer strictly regulating the aging dynamics in multicomponent Laponite suspensions. The study is performed in the dilute polymer concentration regime. We analyze the observed aging pattern by fixing the non-monotonic transitions observed between temporally achieved suspension elastic moduli and polymer concentration, as the border of a sub-regime. This divides the aging pattern into three sub-regimes, across which the suspension elastic modulus shows an oscillatory relationship with polymer concentration. We also observe that suspensions belonging to first two sub-regimes remained colloidally stable during the timescale of measurement. In the third sub-regime, macrophase separation occurred, while suspensions were aging. For an explanation to this observation, we conducted three complementary measurements on select suspensions from each sub-regime, after they attained structurally arrested state. They are (a) small-angle neutron scattering, (b) structure recovery upon shear melting, and (c) zeta potential estimation. The collective evidences are analyzed to reach a possible explanation. The observation and analysis highlight the effect of concentration of adsorbing polymer on aging clay suspensions and have direct applications in stabilization, rheology modification, as well as polymer nanocomposite preparation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abou B, Bonn D, Meunier J (2001) Aging dynamics in a colloidal glass. Phys Rev E 64:021510

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aranda P, Mosqueda Y, Perez-Cappe E, Ruiz-Hitzky E (2003) Electrical characterization of poly(ethylene oxide)–clay nanocomposites prepared by microwave irradiation. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41:3249–3263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atmuri AK, Peklaris GA, Kishore S, Bhatia SR (2012) A re-entrant glass transition in colloidal disks with adsorbing polymer. Soft Matter 8:8965–8971

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aubry T, Bossard F, Moan M (2002) Laponite dispersions in the presence of an associative polymer. Langmuir 18(1):155–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Awasthi V, Joshi YM (2009) Effect of temperature on aging and time-temperature superposition in nonergodic Laponite suspensions. Soft Matter 5:4991–4996

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baghdadi HA, Jensen E, Easwar N, Bhatia SR (2008) Long-term aging effects on the rheology of neat Laponite and Laponite-PEO dispersions. Rheol Acta 47:121–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baghdadi HA, Sardinha H, Bhatia SR (2005) Rheology and gelation kinetics in Laponite dispersions containing poly(ethylene oxide). J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43:233–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bandyopadhyay R, Liang D, Yardimci H, Ses-soms DA, Borthwick MA, Mochrie SGJ, Harden JJ, Leheny RL (2004) Evolution of particle-scale dynamics in an aging clay suspension. Phys Rev Lett 93(22):228302(1–4)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonn D, Kellay H, Tanaka H, Wegdam G, Meunier J (1999) Laponite: what is the difference between a gel and a glass? Langmuir 15:7534–7536

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dhavale TP, Jatav S, Joshi YM (2013) Thermally activated asymmetric structural recovery in a soft glassy nano-clay suspension. Soft Matter 9:7751–7756

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fall A, Bonn D (2012) Shear thickening of laponite suspensions with poly(ethylene oxide). Soft Matter 8:4645–4651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feigin LA, Svergum DI (1987) Structure analysis by a small-angle x-ray and neutron scattering. Plenum Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gabriel JCP, Sanchez C, Davidson P (1996) Observation of nematic liquid-crystal textures in aqueous gels of smectite clays. J Phys Chem 100(26):11139–11143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harikrishnan G, Singh SN, Lindsay CI, Macosko CW (2012) An aqueous pathway to polymeric foaming with nanoclay. Green Chem 14(3):766–770

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jabbari-Farouji S, Tanaka H, Wegdam GH, Bonn D (2008) Multiple nonergodic disordered states in Laponite suspensions: a phase diagram. Phys Rev E 78:061405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loizou E, Butler P, Porcar L, Kesselman E, Talmon Y, Dundigalla A, Schmidt G (2005) Large scale structures in nanocomposite gels. Macromolecules 38:2047–2049

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson A, Cosgrove T (2004a) Dynamic light scattering studies of poly(ethylene oxide) adsorbed on laponite: layer conformation and its effect on particle stability. Langmuir 20(24):10382–10388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson A, Cosgrove T (2004b) A small-angle neutron scattering study of adsorbed poly(ethylene oxide) on Laponite. Langmuir 20:2298–2304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patro TU, Wagner HD (2011) Layer-by-layer assembled PVA/Laponite multilayer free-standing films and their mechanical and thermal properties. Nanotechnology 22(45):455706(1–12)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pozzo DC, Walker LM (2004) Reversible shear gelation of polymer clay dispersions. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 240(1–3):187–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pujala RK, Bohidar HB (2012) Ergodicity breaking and aging dynamics in Laponite-Montmorillonite mixed clay dispersions. Soft Matter 8:6120–6127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pujala RK, Bohidar HB (2013) Slow dynamics, hydration and heterogeneity in Laponite dispersions. Soft Matter 9:2003–2010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romero-Cano MS, Martin-Rodrigauez A, de Las Nieves FJ (2001) Electrosteric stabilization of polymer colloids with different functionality. Langmuir 17:3505–3511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt G, Nakatani AI, Butler PD, Karim A, Han CC (2000) Shear orientation of viscoelastic polymer-clay solutions probed by flow birefringence and SANS. Macromolecules 33(20):7219–7222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt G, Nakatani AL, Han CC (2002) Rheology and flow-birefringence from viscoelastic polymer clay solutions. Rheol Acta 41(1–2):45–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahin A, Joshi YM (2010) Irreversible aging dynamics and generic phase behavior of aqueous suspensions of laponite. Langmuir 26:4219–4225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahin A, Joshi YM (2012) Physicochemical effects in aging aqueous Laponite suspensions. Langmuir 28:15674–15686

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Song SL, Kim BC (2004) Characteristic rheological features of PVA solutions in water-containing solvents with different hydration states. Polymer 45:2381–2386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun W, Yang Y, Wang T, Huang H, Liu X, Tong Z (2012) Effect of adsorbed poly(ethylene glycol) on the gelation evolution of Laponite suspension: aging time-polymer concentration super position. J Colloid Interface Sci 376:76–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tanaka H, Jabbari-Farouji S, Meunier H, Bonn D (2005) Kinetics of ergodic-to-nonergodic transitions in charged colloidal suspensions: aging and gelation. Phys Rev E 71:021402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tanaka H, Meunier J, Bonn D (2004) Nonergodic states of charged colloidal suspensions: repulsive and attractive glasses and gels. Phys Rev E 69:031404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Theng BKG (1982) Clay-polymer interactions: summary and perspectives. Clay Clay Miner 30:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson DW, Butterworth JT (1992) The nature of Laponite and its aqueous dispersions. J Colloid Interface Sci 151:236–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu YH, Lin CY, Yeh JM, Lin WH (2003) Preparation and properties of poly(vinyl alcohol)-clay nanocomposite materials. Polymer 44:3553–3560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zebrowski J, Prasad V, Zhang W, Walker LM, Weitz DA (2003) Shake-gels: shear induced gelation of Laponite-PEO mixtures. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 213:189–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Q, Archer LA (2002) (Poly)ethylene oxide silica nanocomposites: structure and rheology. Langmuir 18(26):10435–10442

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant given to G. Harikrishnan by the UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research (Grant No. CRS-M-214). The beam time provided by the National Facility for Neutron Beam Research, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai is thankfully acknowledged. The authors are thankful to the Southern Clay Corporation for the generous supply of Laponite.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India

    Sanjay Kumar & G. Harikrishnan

  2. Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India

    Vinod K Aswal

Authors
  1. Sanjay Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Vinod K Aswal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. G. Harikrishnan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. Harikrishnan.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

High resolution image (DOC 1.65 mb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kumar, S., Aswal, V.K. & Harikrishnan, G. Polymer concentration regulated aging in aqueous Laponite suspensions. Rheol Acta 55, 411–421 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-016-0928-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-016-0928-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation