| Abstract: | ![]()
The molecular models of polymer physics (reptation, tube renewal) give a reasonable picture of the diffusion and relaxation of long and flexible chains: the concept of “tube renewal” (constraint release) added to the reptation idea explains the polydispersity effects for multimodal blends as well as for commercial linear polymers. The real issue now is to introduce these concepts in the formalism of non-linear viscoelasticity in order to explain the experimental data, as a first step in the range of moderate rates of deformation, then at very high strains. |
