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Viscosity


Prepared By: Muhammad Farooq
Matriculation # 764316


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INTRODUCTION
Viscosity is the measure of resistance of a flow due to internal friction when one layer of fluid is
caused to move in relationship to another layer.
Flow of a liquid is highly governed by the molecular weight, so we can say molecular weight is the
most important parameters defining a polymer or any fluid behavior under stress, which causes it
to flow.
Polymer viscosity, or resistance to flow, a simple rule is that, viscosity increases with polymer
molecular weight and the ability for a polymer to flow decreases with increasing molecular weight.
Polymer physical properties, such as tensile strength or impact resistance, also increase with
increasing molecular weight.
The estimation of a molecular weight can be carried out by analyzing different aspects, as the
thickening effect can straight away let us know that the higher the molecular weight, the more
viscous the polymer solution will be.
The reason behind is a phenomenon known as hydrodynamic volume of a polymer chain.
Polymers tends to coil itself so if the molecular weight is more than more will be the hydrodynamic
volume , more the hydrodynamic volume more space will be occupied by the polymer chain to coil
up and it will cause the more resistance to any solvent present in the vicinity. So the higher the
molecular weight, the more strongly the solvent molecules will be bound to the polymer.
Dilute Solution Viscosity (DSV)

Dilute Solution Viscosity (DSV) is a viscosity measuring technique in which
viscosity of a dilute polymer solution is measured relative to the viscosity of
the pure solvent. By using different viscosity relationships one can calculate
the different viscosity values.
Viscometer as shown in figure 1 was used to determine the viscosity of the
polymer. This special type of viscometer is called "suspended level and the
reason is that the liquid is initially sucked up by using a suction device into
the small bubble which is right above the bigger bulb and this small bulb is
not connected directly to the solution reservoir. Two marks one right above
the bigger bulb and one right below the bigger bulb are the distance for
which time intervals are recorder .This is the time which a specific solution
takes to fall down freely.
Numerous viscosity functions are used to study the relationship between the
concentration of polymeric solution and the viscosity. Figure 1. Viscometer
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The most common solution viscosity terms are:
Intrinsic Viscosity ([])

The ratio of a solutions specific viscosity to the concentration of the solute, extrapolated to zero
concentration. Intrinsic viscosity reflects the capability of a polymer in solution to enhance the
viscosity of the solution.
Intrinsic viscosity is calculated by determining the reduced viscosity (
sp
/c) and extrapolating to
infinite dilution.
Huggins equation
|p] = lim
c0
p
cd

Inherent Viscosity (
inh
)

Natural logarithm of the relative viscosity divided by the concentration of the solution gives us the
value of inherent viscosity.

Inherent viscosity is expressed in the following equation
p
nh=
ln p
cI
C

Reduced Viscosity (
red)


The specific viscosity (sp) divided by the concentration, expressed in g/ml.
Reduced Viscosity (
red
) expressed in the following equation

p
cd=
ln p
cI
1
C

Relative Viscosity (
rel
)

Relative Viscosity is the ratio of the viscosities of the polymer solution and of the pure solvent.
It can be expressed in either viscosity function or the time function.
.
Relative viscosity (
rel
) is expressed in the following equation:

t
t
0
= p
cI

c]]Iux tmc o] sIuton
c]]Iux tmc o] ou soIcnt
= p
I

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Specific Viscosity (
sp
)

Specific viscosity is a ratio between the viscosity difference between the solvent and solution and
pure solvent.

Specific viscosity can be expressed in terms of function of time.

t t
0
t
0
= p
sp

EXPERIMENT
Following polymer and solvent were used.
Table 1. Solvent & Polymer
Sr. No Regent & material Molar Mass (g/ mol)
1 Polyethylene glycol (PEG) 62.06784 g/mol
2 Methanol 32,04 g/mol


Following steps were followed to determine the viscosity measurement

1. Viscometer was cleaned and dried to make sure there are no impurities of water vapors
present that can lead an error.
2. Temperature was observed before taking any reading, although that reading was not so
accurate because it was giving the temperature of whole environment in the lab not exactly
the temperature of the test samples, even though care was taken in order to relate any
discrepancy in our readings.
3. First, the pure solvent was filled in the viscometer, and then using a suction device solvent
was brought until the small bulb right about the bigger bulb.
4. Solvent was allowed to flow freely under gravity and time was taken between the two
marking which are right below and above the bigger bulb that gives the value of afflux time.
5. After the first reading of pure solvent, an amount of 1.5mL was added in the solvent, mixing
was carried out and then using the suction device same operation was repeated as for pure
solvent.
6. Amount of 1.5mL was added for times and same procedure was followed
7. Further, four more solutions with the addition of 1.5 mL were measured.
8. Each afflux time value was taken 3 times, few values were taken 5 times to avoid statistical
error.
9. After measuring the afflux time values further calculation was proceeded
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DISCUSSION
Mark-Houwink equation is of great importance when it comes to measure the molecular weight of
the polymer solutions.
The Mark-Houwink equation defines the relationship between intrinsic viscosity and molecular
weight. Log/log plots of [] as a function of molecular weight produce a straight line with slope a
and intercept logK, whose values depend on the polymer and solvent chosen as well as
temperature.

CALCULATION 1
Table 2. Values of viscosity functions at different times and concentrations
Concentration
C
(g/ml)
Time
T
(sec)

rel

sp

inh
(mL/g)





0 552.15 1.00000 0.00000 n/a
0.0087 572.9 1.03758 0.03758 4.24039
0.016 615.37 1.11450 0.11450 6.77525
0.0222 620.27 1.12337 0.12337 5.24032
0.0274 626.24 1.13418 0.13418 4.59540
0.032 645.07 1.16829 0.16829 4.86060














Graph 1. Reduced viscosity Vs. Inherent Viscosity
Using origin software Intercept at C=0 was found, Average of these two intercepts is 5.4 grams/mL
which is the value of intrinsic viscosity

inh/Conc.

sp/Conc.

Concentration
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Table 3 & 4. Values of intercept





CALCULATION 2
Table 5. Values of viscosity functions, k' & k"

sp

inh
(ml/g) k' k" k-k
0.03758 4.24039 -4.25878 -4.57092 0.312142
0.11450 6.77525 3.763968 2.947633 0.816335
0.12337 5.24032 0.243005 -0.24667 0.48967
0.13418 4.59540 -0.62924 -1.00703 0.377789
0.16829 4.86060 -0.15112 -0.57806 0.426945
Averages -0.20643 -0.69101 0.484576

Average Value of k is - 0.20643 and for k is - 0.69101, in order to check my calculation we
performed an additional check and found that k-k= 0.484576, which should be approximately
0.5.
ANSWER 1
On page no 5
ANSWER 2
|p] = K. H
u

H
u
=
|p]
K

H = 1u
Iog|q]-Iog|q]
u

H = 1u
Iog|5.4]-Iog|0.0125]
0.62

Average Molecular Weight of the Polymer M=17814 grams/mol
Average Temperature 24.5 C

REFERENCE
Sperling, L. H., Introduction to Physical Polymer Science, Wiley: 2001. pp 110-117
Kumar, A.; Gupta, R. Fundamentals of Polymer Engineering, 2nd Ed., Marcel Dekker: NY, 2003. pp
584-596