Synthesis and solution behavior of hydrophobic association water-soluble polymers containing arylalkyl group

Copolymers of acrylamide (AM) and N-arylalkylacrylamide (AAM) have been synthesized by free radical micellar copolymerization in aqueous solution utilizing sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) as the surfactant and ammonium persulfate/sodium bisulfite as the redox initiator. Some factors affecting synthesis, such as the amount of AAM, SDS and 2-acrylamide-2-methylpropane sulfate, are described. Solution behaviors of these polymers were studied. The results show that with the increase of AAM content, the intrinsic viscosity decreases, Huggins constant increases and the viscosification effect increase. The addition of NaCl and CaCl2 results an increase of solution viscosity, and the addition of surfactant has a significant and complex effect to solution viscosities. The polymers exhibit good temperature tolerance property, shear-thickening and thixotropy behavior. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.