Concentration Dependence of the Viscosity and Viscoelasticity of Polymer Solutions: Application of the Theory of Muthukumar and Freed

Recently, Muthukumar and Freed have proposed a theory for the concentration dependence of several viscoelastic properties of polymer solutions. Using data taken from monodisperse solutions of T2 DNA, we have made some tests of the theory. We have found that their theory correctly predicts the concentration dependence of the primary relaxation time. The Huggins constant which can be calculated from their theory is also in good agreement with available experimental data on these solutions. If, in addition, we adopt the simple phenomenological model of Klotz and Zimm which relates creep-recovery parameters to relaxation times, we can make predictions about the concentration dependence of retardation times and recoils. Although some of these predictions are less reliable, nevertheless the corrections are all in the right direction, and the theoretically predicted slopes of the linear concentration dependences are all within a factor of 2 of the experimental values.