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Direct interchange reaction in a homopolymer melt. Evolution of the MWD: an analytical solution
Author(s) -
Kudryavtsev Yaroslav V.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
macromolecular theory and simulations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1521-3919
pISSN - 1022-1344
DOI - 10.1002/1521-3919(20001101)9:8<675::aid-mats675>3.0.co;2-n
Subject(s) - dispersity , molar mass distribution , thermodynamics , polymer , distribution function , relaxation (psychology) , polymerization , polymer chemistry , distribution (mathematics) , chemistry , statistical physics , materials science , mathematics , physics , mathematical analysis , organic chemistry , psychology , social psychology
Kinetics of a direct interchange reaction in a homopolymer melt is studied theoretically. Relaxation of the molecular weight distribution to its most probable (Flory) stationary form [1] is considered. To this end, the time‐dependent generating function of the transient distribution is calculated analytically. Peculiarities of the relaxation process are investigated for two kinds of the initial distribution, namely, the sum of two Flory distributions with different number averages N 1 and N 1 , and the delta‐function. The former case describes a blend of two polydisperse polymers whereas the latter corresponds to a monodisperse melt. In each case, the dependencies of the differential molecular weight distribution and the weight‐ and z ‐average polymerization degrees on the number of interchanges per number average chain are obtained in the explicit form. Earlier studies of this problem are briefly discussed.