Dynamics of polymer-like lecithin micelles. Rheological measurements

The dynamics of polymer-like lecithin micelles was considered within the framework of the Cates model. A new formalized procedure was proposed to determine the relaxation times. Characteristic times of micelle reptations and dissociation were calculated according to the proposed procedure from experimental data obtained in the mode of low-amplitude oscillations. The dependence of relaxation times on molar water-lecithin ratio in n-hexane-based organogel was considered. The characteristic time of reptations was found to increase with water concentration in the region of linear micelle existence and plateaus during the transition to the region of the existence of branched micelles. The characteristic time of micelle dissociation remains virtually constant within the studied range of the molar water-lecithin ratio. It was shown that the characteristic time of reptation is proportional to the molar ratio of lecithin to the power of 3.6 ± 0.3, which agrees well with the theoretical scaling dependence.