Comment on the Berkeley Kinetic Network Model

A kinetic model for the rheological behavior of polymeric systems, i.e. the Berkeley kinetic network model, is compared with a generalized transient-network model. It turns out that the Berkeley kinetic network model fits quite well in the framework of the transient-network model. From the point of view of the latter model, however, a number of parameters introduced in the kinetic-network model are not independent constants as was supposed. Since the generalized transient-network model is totally based on microscopic assumptions, the parameters in this theory reveal information about the structure, whereas the physical interpretation of the param-eters in the kinetic model is vague. Stress predictions of the generalized transient-network model agree with experimental data from a 4 percent solution of polystyrene in arochlor, obtained from literature