| Abstract: | The Doi-Edwards theory of polymer melts, extended to include relaxation processes associated with chain-length equilibration, is used to make quantitative predictions of a discontinuity in the flow curve of a monodisperse melt in a capillary. A fluid interface between regions of high and low deformation rates is found to propagate from the former into the latter. Our results for the “spurt” and its hysteresis compare favorably with experiment using a molecular weight dependence of the ratio of “reptation time” (Td) to “equilibration time” (Teq) in agreement with that determined from nonlinear stress relaxation. |
