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Detection of microgels in polyacrylamide solutions using microcapillary flow analysis
Author(s) -
Sugarman Jeffrey H.,
Prud'Homme Robert K.,
Langhorst Martin A.,
Stanley Frederick W.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1987.070330301
Subject(s) - polyacrylamide , filtration (mathematics) , polymer , capillary action , materials science , chromatography , filter (signal processing) , chemical engineering , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemistry , polymer chemistry , composite material , statistics , mathematics , computer science , engineering , computer vision
A new technique for quantifying the amount of multimolecular microgel material in water‐soluble polymers is described. The enhanced velocity of the large microgels during flow through a 25 μm capillary is the basis for a separation between the microgels and dissolved polymer. With the use of laser‐excited fluorescence detection, the arrival of fluorescently‐tagged polyacrylamide samples at a downstream location is recorded. The presence of small amounts of microgel has a deleterious effect on the ability to filter polymer solutions. Analysis of samples before and after filtration suggests that a significant amount of microgel material above 8 μm in diameter is present in samples that exhibit poor filterability characteristics. Treatment of a sample with base is found to improve filterability and to decrease the amount of microgel in the sample.