Comparison of Shear Viscosity and Normal Stress Measurements by Rotational and On-Line Slit Rheometers with Tube Model Predictions

In-extruder measurements of shear viscosity and normal stresses are important as these measurement techniques allow determining the rheological state of the polymer melt at processing conditions up to high shear rates. However, validation of viscosity and normal stress data obtained by in-line slit rheometers at high shear rates is difficult due to a lack of overlap of the in-line data and the off-line measurements by rotational rheometers limited to lower shear rates. Here, shear viscosity and normal stress data measured in-line at large shear rates during extrusion and off-line at low shear rates are compared to predictions of the Doi-Edwards model and the Hierarchical Multi-Mode Molecular Stress Function (HMMSF) model using linear-viscoelastic off-line small amplitude oscillating shear data of two polystyrenes and a low-density polyethylene as input parameters. For polystyrene, the results of this investigation do not only validate the experimental data obtained by rotational as well as slit-die rheometry, but also demonstrate the agreement between experiments and models up to very high shear rates, which were not experimentally accessible earlier. The low-density polyethylene shows a more complex behaviour, which follows the HMMSF model at low shear rates, but approaches the Doi-Edwards model at high shear rates.