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Fascinating polymeric liquids

JAN 01, 1984
Theory and experiment are beginning to tell us why the motion of liquids containing very large molecules is often just the opposite of what we would expect from our experience with normal fluids.
R. Byron Bird
Charles F. Curtiss

Fluid dynamics is an old subject. In 1687, Isaac Newton wrote a simple equation defining the viscosity of a fluid as the coefficient of proportionality between the shear stress and the velocity gradient. Newton’s equation does well at describing gases and liquids made up of “light” molecules—those of molecular weight less than about 1000. By the middle of the last century the mathematical description of the flow of such “Newtonian” fluids was well established. This description is based on use of the laws of conservation of mass and momentum.

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References

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  2. 2. R. B. Bird, W. E. Stewart, E. N. Lightfoot, Transport Phenomena, Wiley, New York (1960).

  3. 3. R. B. Bird, R. C. Armstrong, O. Hassager, Dynamics of Polymeric Liquids, Vol. 1, Fluid Mechanics, Wiley, New York (1977).

  4. 4. R. B. Bird, O. Hassager, R. C. Armstrong, C. F. Curtiss, Dynamics of Polymeric Liquids, Vol. 2, Kinetic Theory, Wiley, New York (1977).

  5. 5. A. S. Lodge, Elastic Liquids, Academic, New York (1964);
    Body Tensor Fields in Continuum Mechanics, Academic, New York (1974).

  6. 6. H. Janeschitz‐Kriegl, Polymer Melt Rheology and Flow Birefringence, Springer‐Verlag, New York (1983).

  7. 7. J. Walker, Scientific American 243, 186 (1978).https://doi.org/SCAMAC

  8. 8. K. Walters, Rheometry, Chapman and Hall, London (1975).

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  11. 11. M. C. Williams, Am. Inst. Chem. Eng. Journal 21, 1 (1975).

  12. 12. J. G. Kirkwood, Macromolecules, Gordon and Breach, New York (1967).

  13. 13. H. A. Kramers, Physica 11, 1 (1944).

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  17. 17. H. Giesekus, Rheol. Acta 5, 29 (1966); https://doi.org/RHEAAK
    H. Giesekus, J. Non‐Newtonian Fl. Mech. 11, 69 (1982).

  18. 18. C. F. Curtiss, R. B. Bird, J. Chem. Phys. 74, 2016, 2026 (1981); https://doi.org/JCPSA6
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    H. H. Saab, R. B. Bird, C. F. Curtiss, J. Chem. Phys. 77, 4758 (1982); https://doi.org/JCPSA6
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  19. 19. P.‐G. de Gennes, J. Chem. Phys. 55, 572 (1971); https://doi.org/JCPSA6
    PHYSICS TODAY, June 1983, page 33.

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More about the authors

R. Byron Bird, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Charles F. Curtiss, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

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This Content Appeared In
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Volume 37, Number 1

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