Rheological characteristics of concentrated ternary gum mixtures with xanthan gum, guar gum, and carboxymethyl cellulose: Effect of NaCl, sucrose, pH, and temperature

Our goal was to investigate the effects of various conditions of media (NaCl, sucrose, pH, and temperature) on the steady and dynamic shear rheological properties of a concentrated ternary gum mixture system (1.0 wt%) containing xanthan gum (XG), guar gum (GG), and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). Regardless of the media conditions, all gum mixtures exhibited a high shear-thinning behavior with a low flow behavior index (<0.30). NaCl addition resulted in a decrease in the consistency index (K, 32.8–16.1 Pa·sⁿ) and apparent viscosity at 50 s⁻¹ (η_a,50, 1.00–0.75 Pa·s), as well as the elastic modulus (G′) and viscous modulus (G″) due to the charge screening effect. Similar result was observed with an increase in acidity of media. The presence of sucrose also induced the decrease in the η_a,50, K, G′, and G″ values of the ternary gum, but tan δ (G″/G′) decreased, indicative of higher weak gel-like properties. No effect of NaCl or sucrose addition on the temperature dependence of G′ values was observed, whereas pH adjustment was impacted. These results demonstrated that the presence of co-solute, the acidity of media, and temperature influenced the rheological properties of ternary gum, and in particular acid condition gave a great impact.