Experimental evaluation of the pure configurational stress assumption in the flow dynamics of entangled polymer melts

A filament stretching rheometer was used for measuring the startup of uni-axial elongational flow followed by reversed bi-axial flow, both with a constant elongational strain rate. A narrow molecular mass distribution linear polyisoprene with a molecular weight of 483 kg/mole was subjected to the flow in the non-linear flow regime. This has allowed highly elastic measurements within the limit of pure orientational stress, as the time of the flow was considerably smaller than the Rouse time. A Doi-Edwards [J. Chem. Soc., Faraday Trans. 2 74, 1818-1832 (1978)] type of constitutive model with the assumption of pure configurational stress was accurately able to predict the startup as well as the reversed flow behavior. This confirms that this commonly used theoretical picture for the flow of polymeric liquids is a correct physical principle to apply. c 2010 The Society of Rheology. [DOI: 10.1122/1.3496378]