Nonisothermal flow of polymer melts (Q1118469)

The Curtiss-Bird theory for polymer melts is modified to allow the temperature to be a function of time. The resulting constitutive equation involves integrals over the temperature history of the polymer. The predictions of this constitutive equation for the inception of uniaxial elongation with simultaneous cooling at a constant rate are calculated and compared with the experimental data of \textit{T. Matsumoto} and \textit{D. C. Bogue} [Trans. Soc. Rheol., 21, 453-468 (1977)]. Qualitative agreement between the theory and the data is obtained when the link tension coefficient in the Curtiss-Bird theory is not equal to zero, but such agreement cannot be obtained when this coefficient is equal to zero. The extension of the theory to include spatially varying temperature is also discussed.