Macromolecules, Vol.34, No.16, 5675-5686, 2001
Tube models for rubber-elastic systems
In the first part of the paper, we show that the constraining potentials introduced to mimic entanglement effects in Edwards' tube model and Flory's constrained junction model are diagonal in the generalized Rouse modes of the corresponding phantom network. As a consequence, both models can formally be solved exactly for arbitrary connectivity using the recently introduced constrained mode model. In the second part, we solve a double tube model for the confinement of long paths in polymer networks which is partially due to cross-linking and partially due to entanglements. Our model describes a nontrivial crossover between the Warner-Edwards and the Heinrich-Straube tube models. We present results for the macroscopic elastic properties as well as for the microscopic deformations including structure factors.