Shear and longitudinal viscosity of non-ionic C12E8 aqueous solutions.

ABSTRACT

We present an extensive set of measurements of steady shear viscosity (eta degrees(s)), longitudinal elastic modulus (M'), and ultrasonic absorption (alpha) in the one-phase isotropic liquid region of the non-ionic surfactant C12E8 aqueous solutions. Within a given temperature interval, this phase extends along the entire surfactant concentration range that could be fully covered in the experiments. In agreement with previous studies, the overall results support the presence of two separated intervals of concentration corresponding to different structural properties. In the surfactant-rich region the temperature dependence of eta degrees(s) follows an equation characteristic of glass-like systems. The ultrasonic absorption spectra show unambiguous evidence of viscoelastic behavior that can be described by a Cole-Cole relaxation formula. In this region, when both the absorption and the frequency are scaled by the static shear viscosity (eta degrees(s)), the scaled attenuation reduces to a single universal curve for all temperatures and concentrations. In the water-rich region the behavior of eta degrees(s), M', and alpha are more complex and reflect the presence of dispersed aggregates whose size increases with temperature and concentration. At these concentrations the ultrasonic spectra are characterized by a multiple decay rate. The high-frequency tail falls in the same frequency range seen at high surfactant content and exhibits similar behaviors. This contribution is ascribed to the mixture of hydrophilic terminations and water present at the micellar interfaces that resembles the condition of a concentrated polymer solution. An additional low-frequency contribution is also observed, which is ascribed to the exchange of water molecules and/or surfactant monomers between the aggregates and the bulk solvent region.