Constraint release in the slip-link model and the viscoelastic properties of polymers

Abstract

The Doi-Edwards slip-link model is used to treat in a self consistent manner the effect of tube renewal on the relaxation of an entangled polymeric medium. We derive new expressions for the stress in the terminal flow zone and for the viscoelastic properties. These expressions, which agree qualitatively with the model proposed earlier by Graessley, improve to a rather significant extent the agreement between theory and experiment, and remain mathematically very simple.