Role of architecture on the conformation, rheology, and orientation behavior of linear, star, and hyperbranched polymer melts. 2. Linear viscoelasticity and flow birefringence

In the preceding publication, we showed that the hyperbranched polystyrenes (HBPS) synthesized as part of this study may be viewed as starlike molecules with a high branch density, which are either unentangled or weakly entangled. In this paper, the role of architecture, especially the branch density, on the rheological and orientation behavior is investigated using simultaneous, quantitative stress and flow birefringence measurements in the melt state. Linear PS and eight-arm symmetric PS stars follow the stress-optical rule (SOR) over a wide dynamic range, with the stress-optical coefficient (C) governed by the arm molecular weight. When the branch density is "moderate" (greater than similar to20 arms), there is only a hint of nonterminal behavior in the viscoelastic moduli, while the C drops by 30% compared to a star with eight arms of comparable length. When the branch density is "high" (similar to50 arms), and the arms are unentangled, the nonterminal behavior in G* is clearly apparent, and there is a dramatic breakdown in the stress-optical rule in these homopolymer melts. The quantitative birefringence measurements suggest that the "excess" birefringence may be due to the "form" contributions from the core-shell structure. Such a structure may be formed by the preferential radial stretching of the chain segments near the core, as suggested by other studies on hyperstars. For comparable chain density, the core would be bigger than the shell when the arm length is smaller. Therefore, the 5K-HBPS exhibits a more severe breakdown compared to the 10K-HBPS.