We report quantitative determination of the strength of attraction between spherical micelles of associative diblock copolymers. We offer detailed characterization of the dilute micellar solutions by neutron and dynamic light scattering techniques and by viscometry, and we interpret the data with the aid of the adhesive hard-sphere model. This model permits estimate of the stickiness parameter for varying fraction of stickers on the micelles. At this range of attraction the solutions exhibit, in the crowded regime, rheological and dynamics behavior representative of both repulsive caging and attractive bonding glassy dynamics.

• Received 25 April 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.72.041503