Rheological properties of polymer melts

A new method of treating experimental data on the viscous and viscoelastic properties of various polymer melts is suggested. The dependence of the apparent viscosity on the molecular weight, temperature and shear stress can be represented as the product of three independent functions, each of them having a single argument. All three functions are universal, at least in first approximation, and the dependence of the apparent viscosity on the variables indicated is determined by two parameters (glass transition temperature and critical molecular weight), characteristic of each homologous polymer series. The viscoelastic characteristics (dynamic, relaxation, creep, as well as relaxation and retardation spectra) of polymer melts are universal in shape in the linear region and contain only one individual polymer parameter, viz., maximum Newtonian viscosity. It is shown that upon normalization of certain nonlinear characteristics with respect to the maximum Newtonian viscosity, they can also be represented in the universal form.