Mathematical analysis of polymer degradation with chain-end scission

It is well known that the breakage population balance equation provides eff ective, yet simple, means to analyze the change of molecular weight distrib ution during polymer degradation processes. Although the case of random sci ssion has been studied extensively, this is not true for the (equally impor tant from the practical point of view) case of chain-end scission. The gene ral mathematical analysis of this problem is the scope of the present work. It includes the analytical solution of the discrete (exact) problem and th e derivation, as well as, the solution of the continuous, discrete-continuo us and corrected continuous (approximate) models. Moreover, an assessment o f the commonly used method of moments, for the solution of the particular p roblem is reported. Finally, suggestions are made for the most effective (i n terms of computational effort and accuracy) method for the solution of th e problem according to its parameters value. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.