THE BLEND RHEOLOGY OF SOME LINEAR AND BRANCHED POLYMERS

The first stage of a study of model blends using essentially monodispe rse linear and three-arm-star polystyrenes is described in relation to the structure-specific blending rule of McLeish and O'Connor and the more general blending law of Tsenoglou for the relaxation shear modulu s G(t). The results are considered in relation to the polymer molecula r weights, consequent level of entanglement and the effect of cooperat ive relaxation in the choice of blending rule theory and quality of fi t to the data It is anticipated that the complete study with a range o f linear and star polystyrenes will aid the understanding of more gene ral linear-branched polymer blend systems. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.