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We examine the thermally-induced fracture of an unstrained polymer chain ofdiscrete segments coupled by an anharmonic potential by means of MolecularDynamics simulation with a Langevin thermostat. Cases of both under- andover-damped dynamics are investigated, and a comparison with recent studies ofbond scission in model polymers with harmonic interactions is performed. Wefind that the polymer degradation changes qualitatively between the inertialregime and that of heavily damped dynamics. The role of bond healing(recombination) is also studied and probability distributions for therecombination times and overstretched bond lengths are obtained.  Our extensive simulations reveal many properties of the scission dynamics inagreement with the notion of random breakdown of independent bonds, e.g., themean time of chain rupture, $<\tau>$ follows an Arrhenian behavior withtemperature $T$, and depends on the number of bonds $N$ in the polymer as$<\tau> \propto N^{-1}$. In contrast, the rupture rates of the individual bondsalong the polymer backbone indicate clearly the presence of self-inducedinhomogeneity resulting from the interplay of thermal noise and nonlinearity.  Eventually we examine the fragmentation kinetics during thermolysis. Wedemonstrate that both the probability distribution function of fragment sizesas well as the mean length of fragments at subsequent times $t$ characterizedegradation as predominantly a first order reaction.

Thermal Degradation of Unstrained Single Polymer Chain: Non-linear Effects at Work