Viscoelastic properties of dilute polymer solutions

Abstract

The frequency dependences of the intrinsic storage and loss shear moduli can be predicted from molecular theories for flexible random coil polymers (bead-spring models) and for rigid elongated macromolecules. Comparison with various experimental data extrapolated to infinite dilution shows good agreement with both these extreme types. For semi-rigid helical macromolecules, and for highly charged polyelectrolytes, experimental data correspond to hybrid relaxation spectra which are attributed to rigid-body rotation together with certain internal motionsprobably flexural modes for the helices, configurational rearrangements for the polyelectrolytes. At high frequencies or in high-viscosity solvents, additional energy dissipation mechanisms appear in random coil polymers, whose nature is still conjectural. © IUPAC