Rupture in rapid uniaxial extension of linear entangled melts

Abstract

We have carried out uniaxial extension experiments on a monodisperse entangled melt to illustrate the origin of failure in the glass-like zone defined by Malkin and Petrie (J Rheol 41:1–25, 1997). The entangled melt was found to undergo a yield-to-rupture transition beyond a critical rate. We show that the onset of the “glass-like” zone defined by Malkin and Petrie is actually in the middle of the rubbery plateau where the mechanical response of entangled melts is not dictated by glassy chain dynamics. The rupture occurs plausibly through chain scission in the limit of finite chain extensibility.