Shear-induced shift of the critical point in diluted and entangled polymer solutions

Previous thermodynamic analyses of shear-induced shift of the spinodal line in diluted polymer solutions in plane Couette flows are extended here to the entangled regime by using the reptation model. The most significant difference with respect to the dilute regime is a shift of the critical point towards lower temperature at constant viscous pressure, in contrast with the increase of the critical temperature in the dilute regime; at constant shear rate, a positive shift of the critical temperature is predicted both in the dilute and the entangled regimes. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.