Influence of Finite Number of Chain Segments, Hydrodynamic Interaction, and Internal Viscosity on Intrinsic Birefringence and Viscosity of Polymer Solutions in an Oscillating Laminar Flow Field

Abstract

The theory for the frequency-dependent properties of dilute polymer solutions, i.e., flow birefringence, acoustic birefringence, and viscosity, has been developed by Peterlin using the Gaussian necklace model and incorporating the internal viscosity introduced by Cerf. The results of this theory are now examined particularly for the influence of molecular weight (number of Kuhn statistical segments in the model), hydrodynamic interaction, and internal viscosity as three independent parameters. The theoretical results are examined in detail for a wide variation of each of the parameters. It is found that while the frequency dependence of the magnitude and phase of the viscosity and the birefringence are greatly affected by all three parameters, the number of segments is capable of producing the greatest variation. The character of the frequency dependence of viscosity may be considerably different from that for birefringence depending upon the effect of the internal viscosity. The intrinsic flow birefringence and acoustic birefringence are shown to have identical frequency dependences, irrespective of the values of the three parameters.