Stress overshoot of polymer solutions at high rates of shear: semidilute polystyrene solutions with and without chain entanglement

The overshoot of the shear stress (σ) and the first normal stress difference (N1) in the shear flow was investigated for polystyrene solutions in tricresyl phosphate. The magnitudes of the shear (γσm and γNm) corresponding to the maxima of σ and N1 were compared with the theory of Pearson et al. (J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 1991, 29, 1589), a modification of the tube model theory of entanglement including the possible elongation of polymer chains in a fast flow. The results for the entangled systems were in excellent agreement with the theory if the equilibration time of the chain contour length (τe) was equated with 2τR, in accord with the dynamics of the tube model chain. Here, τR was the longest Rouse relaxation time evaluated from the dynamic viscoelasticity at high frequencies. The results for the nonentangled systems were fitted with the same theoretical function, with τe = 1.2τR. This result may indicate that at the same concentration, nonentangled chains contract faster than entangled chains. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 3271–3276, 2000