Dynamic shear compliance of swollen networks and its dependence on crosslink density

Abstract

Some results on irradiation crosslinked isoprene networks, together with data from the literature on other networks are used to study the general behaviour of the reduced shear compliance J(φ)/J(l) in dependence on the polymer volume fraction φ up to the equilibrium swelling. Within the limit of the uncrosslinked melt, the φ ⁻²-law for the plateau compliance is interpreted by multiple-step intra meander shear. Its other limit, a φ−2/3-law, already reached at medium crosslinking, appears simply as the (one-step) intrameander shear of the isotropically swollen blocks.