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Statistical crosslinking of heterochains
Journal article

Statistical crosslinking of heterochains

Abstract

We extend the Flory/Stockmayer gelation theory to systems consisting of N types of polymer chain in which the transition probabilities that a crosslink point on a chain of type i is connected to a chain of type j is explicitly given by pij. A general formula for the weight-average molecular weight is developed. Gelation is predicted to occur when the largest eigenvalue of the transition matrix Q defined in the text reaches unity. In addition to the N-component systems, the present theory can be used to elucidate the non-random crosslinking reactions where the expected crosslinking density of the primary chains is different due to the residence time distribution or the history-dependent crosslinking reactions. For the prediction of the full molecular weight distribution, a Monte Carlo simulation method is used to illustrate the resulting distribution profiles.

Authors

Tobita H; Zhu S

Journal

Polymer, Vol. 38, No. 21, pp. 5431–5439

Publisher

Elsevier

Publication Date

January 1, 1997

DOI

10.1016/s0032-3861(97)00091-8

ISSN

0032-3861

Labels

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