Effect of Guar Gum on “Weak Gel” Rheology of Microdispersed Oxidised Cellulose (MDOC)

Materials that show predominantly elastic, gel-like, responses to small deformations, but break down and flow like liquids at higher stress, are known as “weak gels”. Since close-packing of spherical particles does not occur until the volume-fraction reaches ∼65 %, development of “weak gel” properties at a concentration as low as 5 wt % indicates that the individual particles of “microdispersed oxidised cellulose” (MDOC) associate with one another to form a crosslinked network, rather than interacting solely by physical contacts. The purpose of the research was to explore the effect of guar gum – chosen as a typical disordered polysaccharide with extensive practical applications as an inexpensive thickener –on the self-association and “weak gel” rheology of MDOC.