I need to use carboxymethyl cellulose as a thickener in alkaline aqueous medium. Is there any mechanism to control the swelling characteristics of CMC by using cross-linkers or any other?
Dear Kumareswaran, the swelling ability of CMC under alkaline conditions can be controlled by changing the degree of carboxymethylation; crosslinking CMC with some chemical agent ( formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, epichlorohydrin, citric acid) or you can try to use some cations to restrict the mobility of CMC chains due to the swelling.