Rheological Properties of Branched Polymers

This paper gives a review on the rheological properties of polymer melts and concentrated solutions of branched polymers. The molecular weight dependences of various viscoelastic parameters, such as zero-shear viscosity η0, steady-state compliance Je0, and entanglement compliance JeN0 for star-shaped polymers are described in terms of numbers and molecular weights of branches. Reductions of the molecular weight dependences of η0 and Je0 have been investigated. The effect of molecular weight between branch points on the viscoleastic behavior for concentrated solutions of randomly branched polymers is described.