Dataset on rheological measurements of xanthan gum and carrageenan dispersed in seawater and settling dynamics of spherical and non-spherical microplastics in these dispersions

This dataset contains (1) measurements of settling dynamics of spheres, disks, rods, blades, and irregular solid particles made of plastic (PS, POM, PET, PA6) with the longest dimension < 5 mm, i.e. representing microplastics (MPs), in artificial seawater (AS) and in dispersions of xanthan gum (XG), kappa-carrageenan (CR), and their mixtures (XG+CR) in artificial seawater and (2) rheological characteristics of these non-Newtonian dispersions. Experiments comprised seven test solutions including AS and six dispersions containing 0.5 and 1 g/L of each polymer type (XG, CR, and XG+CR). The settling of fifteen types of spherical and non-spherical MPs was examined in a settling column using visualization and Particle Tracking Velocimetry methods to achieve data on the position of particle centroid in time. Rheological measurements were carried out to assess flow properties, viscoelasticity (shear stress amplitude sweeps, the dependence of the first normal stresses difference on shear strain), and gelling time of all test solutions. Experiments on settling dynamics were carried out at the Laboratory of Hydrodynamic Micromodels, Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences and rheological measurements at the Faculty of Chemistry, Warsaw University of Technology.