The properties in aqueous solution of polymer–particle composites (PPC) depend on the size and the concentration of both the particles and the polymers as well as the interactions between them. In this work, rheological behaviour was studied in a semi-diluted regime of partially hydrolysed polyacrylamide (HPAM) with 2Rg/d a particle diameter/polymer gyration radius (Rg) ratio and a confinement parameter (pc) that were both greater than 1. Rg is the polymer gyration radius and d the particle diameter. (429)