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 transientnetwork model is totally based on microscopic assumptions, the parameters in this theory reveal information about the structure, whereas the physical interpretation of the parameters 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.