Impact of anionic polyacrylamide on stability and surface properties of the Al(2)O(3)–polymer solution system at different temperatures

The stability mechanism and thermal properties of the system alumina–anionic polyacrylamide (PAM) was studied. The polymer’s adsorption properties in dependence on the following parameters solution pH (in the range 3–9), temperature (in the range 15–35 °C), and carboxyl groups’ content in the PAM chains (in the range 5–30 %) were examined. The turbidimetry method was applied for determination of the suspension stability of alumina in the presence of PAM. The obtained results indicate that the polymer addition improves significantly Al(2)O(3) suspension stability at pH 6 and 9 (in the whole examined temperature range). PAM containing a larger number of carboxyl groups stabilizes solid particles more effectively (due to greater contribution of electrosteric interactions). Moreover, the polymer adsorption on the alumina surface causes changes in the thermal stability of the examined systems. In dependence on temperature, the higher the content of carboxyl groups in the PAM molecules, the greater the total mass loss. This is due to increased adsorption of polyacrylamide whose chains contain numerous –COOH groups. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00396-016-3906-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.