Viscosity of concentrated solutions of polystyrene and poly(vinyl acetate) (empirical equations)

The viscosity of solutions of polystyrene with Mw from 2.8 × 104 to 7.8 × 105 in toluene and of poly(vinyl acetate) with Mw from 2 × 104 to 1.4 × 105 in butyl acetate at 30–80°C is measured. The dependence of the activation energy of the viscous flow of the solutions on the molecular weight of the polymers and solution concentration is examined. This dependence is approximated by a cubic polynomial for polystyrene solutions and by a quadratic polynomial for poly(vinyl acetate) solutions. The dependences of the solution viscosity on the concentration, molecular weight, and temperature are approximated by exponential equations in which the exponents are sums of polynomials. The coefficients of the polynomials are determined.