In this book, the studies of the Rouse, Doi-Edwards, and extended reptation theories are developed in a consistent manner from a basic level and discussed in detail. Viscoelastic properties of nearly monodisperse linear flexible polymers in both the entanglement and entanglement-free regions are analyzed quantitatively in terms of the molecular theories.

This book covers in great detail the Rouse-segment-based molecular theories in polymer viscoelasticity — the Rouse theory and the extended reptation theory (based on the framework of the Doi-Edwards theory) — that have been shown to explain experimental results in a consistently quantitative way. The explanation for the 3.4 power law of viscosity, quantitative line-shape analyses of viscoelastic responses and agreements between different sorts of viscoelastic responses, the consistency between the viscoelasticity and diffusion results, the clarification of the onset of...