Rheology of regenerated cellulose suspension and influence of sodium alginate

Cellulosic colloidal suspensions present unique opportunities for rheological modification of complex fluids. In this work, the rheological behavior of regenerated cellulose (RC) suspensions, including their oscillating shear and time-dependent behavior, as well as yield stress, were studied. The rheological effects of sodium alginate's addition to aqueous RC solutions subject to shear flow were investigated. The results reveal that the RC suspension exhibited “gel-like” behavior and had a shear-thinning property. At increasing RC concentrations, the suspensions' yield stress and the extent of viscosity recovery after plastic deformation had both increased. The viscoelastic suspensions underwent a transition from “solid-like” to “liquid-like” behavior upon sodium alginate's inclusion. Sodium alginate was found to enhance RC suspensions' viscosity recoverability. Furthermore, with increasing concentrations of sodium alginate, the yield stress of RC suspension began to decrease and then vanished, occurring below the 1:1 RC: sodium alginate weight ratio with total solid content fixed at 1 wt%, due to RC's inability to form an extended network RC. This study yields insights into the rheology of RC suspensions and the influence of sodium alginate and supports both their usage as rheological modifies in applications such as coatings, drug delivery systems, and additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing.