The inherent viscosity is the ratio of the natural logarithm of the relative viscosity to the concentration of solute. Relative viscosity is the ratio of the viscosity of a solution to the viscosity of its solvent. Therefore, inherent viscosity can be expressed mathematically as:
Where ηinh represents inherent viscosity, c represents the concentration of the solute, η represents the viscosity of the solution and ηs represents the viscosity of the solvent. The solution and solvent viscosities are typically measured using capillary viscometers. Inherent viscosity is most often used to calculate the intrinsic viscosity of polymers and as a quality control measure for polymer solutions.
- Measure intrinsic viscosity of polymers
- Compare inherent viscosities of different polymer lots
