Entanglement plateau modulus

The adjustable parameters, G (o), t0, m, AG, a and p were determined by a least-squares analysis. In physical terms G (o) Is the equilibrium modulus, AG represents the Increment to the entanglement plateau modulus, t0 Is a characteristic time, related, for the last three equations, to the frequency In the point of Inflection, and the exponents m, a and p relate to the slope at the characteristic frequency. 

In equation 76a the reptation time A,rep is the time for the chain to escape from the tube (orientation relaxation occurs from the end to the center of the chain). Gn is the entanglement plateau modulus (this value is slightly different from that implied from rubber elasticity of an entangled network) and f pit) is a normalized relaxation modulus for the reptation process. In this time regime, equation 76a implies that the modulus is separable into a time fimction and a modulus function. This becomes important in discussing the nonlinear response, which is done, in more detail, below. Some other viscoelastic functions from the DE tube model of reptation are... 

Here, Gn is the entanglement plateau modulus defined as the plateau height of the storage modulus G, and fi(t) is the normalized entanglement relaxation modulus decaying from /i[0) = 1 to r( ) = 0. Gn is equivalent to the initial modulus of... 

Investigation of the linear viscoelastic properties of SDIBS with branch MWs exceeding the critical entanglement MW of PIB (about -7000 g/mol ) revealed that both the viscosity and the length of the entanglement plateau scaled with B rather than with the length of the branches, a distinctively different behavior than that of star-branched PIBs. However, the magnitude of the plateau modulus and the temperature dependence of the terminal zone shift factors were found to... 

So far, the existence of a well-defined entanglement length in dense polymer systems has been inferred indirectly from macroscopic experiments like measurements of the plateau modulus. However, its direct microscopic observation remained impossible. The difficulty in directly evaluating the entanglement... 

Comments on Calculated Data. In several studies (13,18,19), G ax has been found to equal, or possibly be somewhat less than, the plateau modulus, G j, of a high molecular weight polymer whose chemical composition is the same as that of the network chains. Although G j for amorphous PPO has not been reported, it can be estimated from Zc, the number of chain atoms per molecule above which the viscosity increases approximately with the 3.4 power of Z. This quantity has been reported (25,26) to be about 400. As the chain atoms between entanglements is commonly about Zc/2, it follows that the molecular weight between entanglement loci is about 3900, and thus G j [ = (p/Me)RT] is about 0.65 MPa at 30°C. 

Since the excellent work of Moore and Watson (6, who cross-linked natural rubber with t-butylperoxide, most workers have assumed that physical cross-links contribute to the equilibrium elastic properties of cross-linked elastomers. This idea seems to be fully confirmed in work by Graessley and co-workers who used the Langley method on radiation cross-linked polybutadiene (.7) and ethylene-propylene copolymer (8) to study trapped entanglements. Two-network results on 1,2-polybutadiene (9.10) also indicate that the equilibrium elastic contribution from chain entangling at high degrees of cross-linking is quantitatively equal to the pseudoequilibrium rubber plateau modulus (1 1.) of the uncross-linked polymer. 

Unfortunately, the method is based on a fairly large nunber of assumptions. If we want to relate GN to the pseudo-equilibrium rubber plateau modulus, G , and to the effect of chain entangling in ordinary networks produced by cross-linking in the unstrained state, the following assumptions are required ... 

Figure 3. Modulus contributions from chemical cross-links (Cx, filled triangles) and from chain entangling (Gx, unfilled symbols) plotted against the extension ratio during cross-linking, A0, for 1,2-polybutadiene. Key O, GN, equibiaxial extension , G.v, pure shear A, Gx, simple extension Gx°, pseudo-equilibrium rubber plateau modulus for a polybutadiene with a similar microstructure. See Ref. 10.

The two-network method has been carefully examined. All the previous two-network results were obtained in simple extension for which the Gaussian composite network theory was found to be inadequate. Results obtained on composite networks of 1,2-polybutadiene for three different types of strain, namely equibiaxial extension, pure shear, and simple extension, are discussed in the present paper. The Gaussian composite network elastic free energy relation is found to be adequate in equibiaxial extension and possibly pure shear. Extrapolation to zero strain gives the same result for all three types of strain The contribution from chain entangling at elastic equilibrium is found to be approximately equal to the pseudo-equilibrium rubber plateau modulus and about three times larger than the contribution from chemical cross-links. 

The viscosity scales, from Eq. (1), as Tj-GoTi-gp since and are the characteristic modus and relaxation times appearing respectively in the integral. The plateau modulus is independent of molecular weight for highly entangled polymers [1] but inversely proportional to so... 

Thus, the simplified Two-Network experiment shows by a direct comparison of forces at constant length that the trapped entangled structure of a well cross-linked elastomer contributes to the equilibrium modulus by an amount that is approximately equal to the rubber plateau modulus. The modulus contribution from the trapped entangled structure will be less for lower molecular weights and especially at low degrees of cross-linking (14). 

Highly entangled systems, especially those of narrow molecular weight distribution, are characterized by a set of relaxations at long times (terminal relaxations) which are more or less isolated from the more rapid processes. The modulus associated with the terminal processes is called the plateau modulus G°,. Because t]0 and depend on weighted averages over H(x), their values are controlled almost completely by the terminal processes. These experimental... 

The front factor g as defined above5 is unity in all the earlier theories (17). Recently Duiser and Staverman (233) have obtained g = j and Imai and Gordon (259) g — 0.54 with Rouse model theories which make no a priori assumptions about the junction point locations after deformation. Edwards (260) also arrives at and Freed (261) deduces that g= 1 is an upper bound by similar approaches. The front factor usually assumed in the shifted relaxation theory of the plateau modulus is g = 1, although Chompff and Duiser (232) obtain g = j through their extension of the Duiser-Staverman result to entanglement networks. The physical reasons for the different values of g in different treatments are not clear at present. 

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