Effect of Polymerization Conditions on the Rheological Behavior of Acrylic Polymer Solutions with 1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium Tetrafluoroborate as Solvent

Rheological behavior of concentrated acrylic polymer/1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (PAN/[BMIM]BF4) solutions, which were prepared by the radical copolymerization of acrylonitrile (AN) and methylate (MA) in ionic liquid, is reported. The effect of copolymerization conditions on the rheological behavior of the solutions is discussed in detail. The shear viscosity and structural viscosity index, Δη, increases while the non-Newtonian index, n, decreases with increasing polymer concentration as the copolymerization time increases, and decreases with decreasing initiator concentration. It is shown that the rheological behavior of PAN/[BMIM]BF4 can be directly controlled by varying copolymerization conditions.