Inorganic thickening mechanism
The system of using inorganic salts as thickener is generally an aqueous solution system of surfactant, in which the surfactant forms micelles in the aqueous solution, and the presence of electrolytes increases the association number of micelles, resulting in the conversion of spherical micelles into rod-shaped micelles, which increases the resistance to movement, thereby increasing the viscosity of the system.
However, when there is an excess of electrolytes, it will affect the structure of the micelles, reduce the resistance to movement, and thus reduce the viscosity of the system, which is called "salting-out". Therefore, the amount of electrolyte added is generally 1%~2%, and it works together with other types of thickeners to make the system more stable.
Cellulose thickeners
The thickening mechanism of cellulose thickener is as follows: the hydrophobic backbone of the cellulose thickener molecule is associated with the surrounding water molecules through hydrogen bonding, which increases the fluid volume of the polymer itself, reduces the space for free movement of particles, and thus improves the viscosity of the system. Viscosity can also be improved by winding molecular chains, which is characterized by high viscosity at static and low shear and low viscosity at high shear. This is because at static or low shear velocity, the cellulose molecular chain is in a disordered state, which makes the system highly viscous. At high shear velocity, the molecules are arranged in an orderly manner parallel to the flow direction and tend to slide against each other, so the viscosity of the system decreases.
Natural gum thickener
The thickening mechanism of natural gum thickener is that the sugar unit in the polysaccharide contains 3 hydroxyl groups and interacts with water molecules to form a three-dimensional hydration network structure, so as to achieve the thickening effect.
