Rheological properties of chitosan solutions

Rheological properties of chitosan solutions were investigated as a function of polymer concentration. The viscosity curves for chitosan solutions consisted of two distinct viscosity regions, the Newtonian zero-shear viscosity (η$_{0}$) region and the shear rate dependent apparent viscosity (η$_{app}$) region. The shear rate dependence of viscosity was more clearly observed at higher chitosan concentrations. The critical coil overlap parameter (C＊〔η〕) was determined to be approximately 3.2 from a plot of zero-shear specific viscosity η$_{sp,0}$ vs coil overlap parameter (C〔η〕), which was lower than C〔η〕4.0 reported for other random coil polysaccharides. It was also found that the slope of η$_{sp,0}$ vs C〔η〕 was 3.9 at concentrated C〔η〕>C＊〔η〕domain, while 1.2 at dilute C〔η〕$_{0}$ ${\gamma}$/${\gamma}$$_{0.8}$ relation.ion.n.n.