Polymer Dynamics. V. The Shear Dependent Properties of Linear Polymers Including Intrinsic Viscosity, Flow Dichroism and Birefringence, Relaxation, and Normal Stresses

Abstract

Under the physical requirement that the contour length of a polymer molecule remains constant irrespective of shear rate in the Rouse and Zimm theories and the Harris–Hearst theory, the shear rate dependence of intrinsic viscosity,flowbirefringence,flowdichroism, normal stresses, the relaxation of flowbirefringence and flowdichroism, and some quantities at zero shear rate have been calculated for molecules of different stiffness ranging from the rod to the flexible coil in θ solvents. Changes of hydrodynamic interaction with shear rate are not included. Comparing the present theory with the experimental results there is satisfactory agreement for stiff molecules such as the cellulose derivatives and DNA at low shear.