Slip-links, hoops and tubes: tests of entanglement models of rubber elasticity

A number of models of rubber elasticity are described in terms of their physics and then compared with experimental data. The models that are examined all assume that entanglements act along the entire contour length of a network chain, either discretely or in a mean field manner. The experiment that is used is the uniaxial extension-compression behaviour of several different networks. The mean field localization or random tube model and the discrete hoop model give the most satisfactory fit to the data.