It is well known that the viscosity of concentrated aqueous solutions (10-20%) of PVA increases with time. Varying polymer concentration, polymerization degree, and polymerization temperature, at which original polyvinyl acetate was synthesized, their effects on the increase of viscosity were studied. The increase of apparent viscosity with time is well represented by η
t=η
0 (1+αt), where η
t and η
0 are the solution viscosity at time
t and 2 and α is a constant. The constant a is proportional to the square of the concentration, independent on polymerization degree, polymerization conversion, and molecular weight distribution of PVA.The apparent “activation energy”of K from it's temperature dependence is-13.5kcal/mol. It is remarkable that
K is dependent on the polymerization temperature at which original polyvinyl acetate was polymerized.The higher the polymerization temperature, the smaller is
K.
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