Abstract:The basic thermodynamic ideas from rubber-elasticity theory which Leonov employed to derive his constitutive model are herein summarized. Predictions of the single-mode version are presented for homogeneous elongational flows including stress growth following start-up of steady flow, stress decay following sudden stretching and following cessation of steady flow, elastic recovery following cessation of steady flow, energy storage in steady-stäte flow, and the velocity profile in constantforce spinning. Using parameters of the multiple-mode version which fit the linearviscoelastic data, the Leonov-model predictions of elongational stress growth during, and elastic recovery following, steady elongation are calculated numerically and compared to the experimental results for Melt I and to the Wagner model. It is found that the Leonov model, as originally formulated, agrees qualitatively with the data, but not quantitatively; the Wagner model gives quantitative agreement, but requires much nonlinear data with whieh to fit model parameters. Quantitative agreement can be obtained with the Leonov model, if the nonequilibrium potential which relates recoverable strain to strain rate is adjusted empirically. This can most simply be done by making each relaxation time dependent upon the reeoverable strain. The Leonov model, unlike the Wagner model, is derived from an entropic constitutive equation, which is advantageous for calculating stored elastic energy or viscous dissipation. The Leonov model also has an appealingly simple differential form, similar to the upperconvected Maxwell model, which, in numerical calculations, may be an important advantage over the integral Wagner model.
Key words:Leonov constitutive model, Wagner model, elongational flow, nonequilibrium potential, Melt I
IntroduetionOflate, the emphasis in the development of constitutive equations for polymeric liquids has been on singleintegral strain equations, particularly those whose kernel is separable into a product of a tensor strain-history measure and a strictly time-dependent scalar memory function. The Wagner model [1][2], which is an example of this class of constitutive equations, has been particularly successful at predicting the viscoelastic response of one particular low-density polyethylene melt [3][4][5][6]. While the class of single-integral models has a theoretical basis in continuum mechanics [7] and is general enough to be consistent with all but the most stringent of rheological tests [3-6, 8, 9], such equations can be difficult to handle numerically, particularly with respect to boundary conditions, and considerable linear (small-deformation) and nonlinear (large-deformation) measurements must ordinarily be made to fully specify them.
Basis of the Leonov ModelLeonov arrived at his constitutive equation for incompressible concentrated polymeric systems by