Rheology of Star-Branched Polyisobutylene
Abstract
The rheology of high molecular weight, six-arm-star polyisobutylenes (PIB) was measured and compared to the behavior of linear PIB. The polymers had equivalent plateau moduli and conformed well in the terminal zone to the time−temperature superposition principle. Moreover, the temperature coefficients of the terminal relaxation times were identical for the star and linear polymers. Since the trans and gauche conformations in PIB have virtually the same energy, this absence of enhanced temperature sensitivity in star PIB, as well as the thermorheological simplicity, is consistent with an interpretation of the rheology of branched polymers based on an arm retraction mechanism.
This paper has been withdrawn.