The interaction between water-soluble polymers and surfactant aggregates

The industrial importance of polymer-micelle complexes was recognized long before a satisfying model for the morphology of these complexes was developed. To date, the notion that surfactants may bind to polymers in the form of micelles is firmly established. The limited choice of polymer-micelle systems has, unfortunately, led to unwarranted generalizations. For instance, nonionic micelles were considered to be indifferent towards poIymers, and cationic surfactants, limited almost exclusively to alkyltrimethylammonium salts, were recorded to be much less prone to interact with polymers than anionic micelles, largely represented by sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS). This study aims- at a better understanding of the role of charge of the surfactant molecule on polymer-micelle interaction. To this end surfactants were investigated for which the charge can be varied without a concomitant. drastic change in structure. Furthermore, a rheological study on selected polymer-micelle systems is presented, and finally an endeavor was made to apply an existing micelle model for the quantitative description of polymer-micelle complexes