Rheological properties of aqueous solution containing xanthan gum and cationic cellulose JR400

► Mixing of xanthan gum and JR400 causes the increase of dynamic modulus of their mixed solutions. ► Mixing-induced viscosity increase is obvious at pH 5–10 for the mixed solutions. ► The viscosity-increasing effect can be weakened severely with increasing shear rate and electrolyte concentration. Rheological properties of aqueous solution containing xanthan gum (XG) and cationic cellulose JR400 were investigated at different composition ratio, shear rate, pH and electrolyte concentrations. It was found that the mixing of XG and JR400 can induce a viscosity-increasing effect for the mixed solution. As the concentration fraction (fJR) of JR400 in the mixed solution increases from 0 to 0.40 with the total polymer concentration (ct) of 1%, the solution transforms from an elastic fluid into a viscoelastic one, while as fJR decreases from 1 to 0.78, the solution transforms from a viscous fluid into a viscoelastic one. At pH 5–10, both the viscosity and elasticity of XG/JR400 mixture (fJR=0.15) are independent of pH and the viscosity-increasing effect is obvious. Outside this pH range, the viscosity, elasticity and viscosity-increasing effect of the mixture decrease. The increase of added NaCl concentration and shear rate can induce the decrease of viscosity, elasticity and viscosity-increasing effect of the XG/JR400 mixture.