Nonlinear rheology of CTAB/NaSal aqueous solutions: finite extensibility of a network of wormlike micelles.

The nonlinear rheology of aqueous solutions of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium salicylate (NaSal) was investigated. The concentration of CTAB was fixed at 0.1 mol L(-1), and the concentration of NaSal was varied from 0.07 to 0.4 mol L(-1). For all test solutions, dynamic moduli were described with the Maxwell model having a single relaxation time, tau. Time evolutions of the shear stress, sigma, and the first normal stress difference, N(1), after inception of the steady shear flow were measured. For solutions having low NaSal concentrations, strain-hardening was observed and sigma and N(1) diverged at a certain strain when the shear rate, , exceeded tau(-1). For solutions with high NaSal concentrations, stress overshoot similar to that of ordinary entangled polymer solutions was observed at between tau(-1) and a certain critical rate, (C), while the strain-hardening was observed at > (C). A simple relationship for elastic solids, N(1)/sigma = gamma with gamma being the strain imposed by shear flow, held for all the solutions in the strain-hardening regime. The strain-hardening was attributable to the strain-dependent shear modulus and well described with the network theory considering the finite extensibility of network strands. The segment size of network strands was successfully determined. Thus, the stress-strain relationship obtained after the inception of fast flows is useful for characterizing the network properties.