Viscosity-molecular weight relationship for cellulose solutions in either NMMO monohydrate or cuen

The intrinsic viscosities, [η], of nine cellulose samples, with molar masses from 50 × 103 to 1 390 × 103 were determined in the solvents NMMO*H2O (N-methyl morpholin N-oxide hydrate) at 80°C and in cuen (copper II-ethlenediamine) at 25°C. The evaluation of these results with respect to the Kuhn–Mark–Houwink relations shows that the data for NMMO*H2O fall on the usual straight line in the double logarithmic plots only for M ≤ 158 103; the corresponding [η]/M relation reads log ([η]/mL g−1) = –1.465 + 0.735 log M. Beyond that molar mass [η] remains almost constant up to M ≈ 106 and increases again thereafter. In contrast to NMMO*H2O the cellulose solutions in cuen behave normal and the Kuhn–…