ABSTRACT
In aqueous solution surfactants self-associate into micelles at concentration above the critical micelle concentration (cmc). Micelles are spherical or spheroidal at concentration close to the cmc but their shape can be modified by acting upon parameters such as temperature, ionic strength, surfactant concentration, or nature of the counterion for ionic surfactants. This chapter is devoted to the relaxation in aqueous solutions of wormlike micelles formed by surfactants. It explains the main conclusions of theoretical and experimental studies of the relaxation in spherical micelle solutions. The chapter presents the theoretical aspects of the relaxation in solutions of wormlike micelles. For short elongated micelles it is anticipated that scissions mostly occur close to the micelle end-caps, and indeed, the end-caps of wormlike micelles have a diameter larger than the cylindrical body. A. I. Rusanov et al. published a series of papers dealing with the slow relaxation process in systems with coexisting spherical and cylindrical micelles.
