Evaluation of Local Gelation Behavior of Aqueous Methylcellulose Solution Using Quartz Crystal Microbalance

The gelation behavior of aqueous methylcellulose (MC) solution was evaluated by using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) which is an extremely sensitive mass balance that measures nano-gram to micro-gram level changes in mass per unit area. Then, possibility of QCM for interfacial selective viscoelasticity measurement was investigated. The viscosity changes accompanying with gelation were observed as the resonance frequency shift. The gelation temperature determined from the temperature dependence of the resonance frequency shift showed good agreement with the value obtained by visual observation and theology measurement. Furthermore, MC molecules were adsorbed, and the concentration was increased at interface with hydrophobic quartz units due to the interfacial state. It was suggested that QCM enables to evaluate the interfacial viscoelasticity.

Automated summary

The gelation behavior of aqueous methylcellulose (MC) solution was evaluated using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) which measures nano-gram to micro-gram level changes in mass per unit area. The resonance frequency shift accompanying viscosity changes during gelation showed good agreement with gelation temperature obtained by visual observation and theology measurement. It was suggested that QCM is capable of evaluating interfacial viscoelasticity.