ИСТИНА

The paper is devoted to the study of phase behavior, microstructure and rheological properties of self-assembled networks based on wormlike surfactant micelles of varying negative charge and polymer weakly interacting with the micelles. It is shown that the mixed networks demonstrate a synergistic increase in viscosity as compared to pure component solutions, which was attributed to the formation of entanglements between polymer and micellar chains and to the elongation of micelles induced by polymer. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the addition of weakly interacting polymer for the modulation of rheology of wormlike surfactant micelles thus opening a new way for manipulating the rheological properties of viscoelastic surfactant solutions and gels.