Solution Structure and Aggregation of Branched Soil-Release Polymers

Soil release polymers are important components of modern laundry formulations. Their role is to adsorb on fabric surfaces and present a surface which inhibits persistent binding of soils. We have successfully characterised their adsorption on model PET surfaces but to complete the picture and fully understand the relationship between SRP structure and surface behaviour, it is also necessary to consider (i) aggregation behaviour in solution and (ii) interaction with surfactants that are necessarily also present in detergent formulations. We seek beamtime for SANS experiments to explore this behaviour of SRP aggregation in a way that goes far beyond what is possible with preliminary DLS experiments. SANS offers a unique opportunity not only to resolve the structure of the aggregations unambiguously, but also to explore a greater range of concentration, and (with contrast variation) to identify and isolate the contribution to aggregation behaviour induced by surfactants. These experiments are essential to validate the computational models that are the overall goal of the wider project.