Below the gelation temperatures of the MC solutions G′ and G″ show strong dependencies of the angular frequency ω. At low frequencies, the loss modulus G″ is higher than the storage modulus G′. Deformation takes place so slowly that the majority of the energy is dissipated by viscous flow. The MC chains have time to respond to the externally imposed deformation by relaxing to an energetically more favorable state. As the frequency increases, the available relaxation time declines. The polymer chains can no longer slip past one another, so entanglements act more and more like fixed junctions. Consequently, the ability of this temporary polymer network to store the temporarily imposed energy increases, and it behaves more like an elastic solid. The storage modulus therefore increases more sharply with frequency than the loss modulus does ( Clasen & Kulicke, 2001).
Due to a low network structure density at a concentration of c = 1% there is no cross-over of G′ and G″ in the frequency domain for which reliable measurement data could be obtained. With increased concentration and polymer density the relaxation of the macromolecules gets hindered. This also leads to enhanced number of entanglements, increased absolute position of the moduli with increasing concentrations and a cross-over of the moduli can be detected in the high frequency region.
To further analyze the solution state of the polymers in solution, the data of the complex viscosity |η*| of the oscillation experiment were compared to the steady shear flow viscosity η. This follows the principles of the empirical Cox–Merz rule where equal values of |η*| and η for equivalent values of angular frequencies and shear rates were shown for melts or homogenous solutions ( Cox & Merz, 1958). If a super architecture structure is present in the sample, η is lower than |η*| due to partial destruction of this structure with increasing applied shear