The Relationship between Gelation Behavior and the Amount of Polymer Dose per Silica Surface Area of “Shake-Gels” Consisting of Silica Nanoparticles and Poly(Ethylene Oxide)

The understanding and control of the rheological behaviors of colloids and polymer mixtures is an important issue for scientific interests and industrial applications. Aqueous mixed suspensions of silica nanoparticles and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) under certain conditions are interesting systems called “shake-gels”, whose states vary reversibly between sol-like and gel-like under repeated shaking and being left to stand. Previous studies have indicated that the amount of PEO dose per silica surface area (C(p)) is a crucial parameter for the formation of shake-gels and the relaxation time from gel-like to sol-like states. However, the relationship between the gelation dynamics and the C(p) values has not been fully investigated. To determine how the gelation dynamics are affected by the C(p), we measured the time taken for silica and PEO mixtures to gelate from the sol-like to gel-like states as a function of the C(p) under different shear rates and flow types. Our results show that the gelation time decreased with increasing shear rates and depended on the C(p) values. Moreover, the minimum gelation time was found around a certain C(p) (=0.03 mg/m(2)) for the first time. The finding suggests that there is an optimum C(p) value at which the bridging of silica nanoparticles using PEO is significant, and thus, the shake-gels and stable gel-like states are most likely to form.