Viscosity of dilute solutions of polyvinyl alcohol

Abstract
The viscosity of dilute solutions of polyvinyl alcohol was measured in aqueous and aqueous phenol systems. In the aqueous solution, Huggins' relation does not hold and a2 = 2.01 × 10−1 [η]2.28 was obtained. In the aqueous phenol solution, Huggins' relation holds very well. The relation between a2 and [η] in both systems is independent of the polymerization conversion of the original polyvinyl acetate. The exponent α of [η] = KMα is greater in the aqueous phenol system than in aqueous solution, showing that the aqueous phenol is a better solvent than water.