1. Appearance Characteristics

The cellulose ether is generally white or milky white, odorless, non-toxic, and in the appearance of fibrous powder with fluidity. It is easy to absorb moisture and dissolves in water into a stable and transparent viscous gel.

2. Thickening Properties

The cellulose ether is dissolved in water in the morphology of colloids, and its viscosity depends on the degree of polymerization of cellulose ether. The solution contains hydrated macromolecules. Due to the winding of macromolecules, the flow behavior of the solution is different from the Newtonian fluid but shows a change with the change in the shear force. Due to the macromolecular structure of cellulose ether, the solution viscosity will increase rapidly with the increase of concentration but decrease rapidly with increasing temperatures.

3 Degradability

The cellulose ether is used in the aqueous phase. As long as there’s water present, bacteria will grow. Bacterial growth leads to the generation of bacterial enzymes, which may cause the bond breakage of unsubstituted anhydroglucose units adjacent to the cellulose ether and reduction in molecular weight of the polymer. Therefore, if you want to save the cellulose ether solution for a longer time, it is necessary to add preservatives in it, even if the antimicrobial cellulose ether is used as well.

Leave a Reply