Investigating the architecture of segmented and branched polymers under random scission by mathematical modeling

The "reverse" problem of finding the properties of the linear constituting segments of linear, but segmented chains and of polymer molecules with terminal branch points of a given chain length distribution and number of connectivity or branch points is addressed. An iterative method based on a uniform segmental end point connectivity proves to be successful for both segmented chains and terminal-branched molecules of arbitrary length distribution. Convergence is achieved using a straightforward back-substitution scheme. A bivariate chain length/number of branch points distribution is constructed. The method is successfully applied to completely solve the problem of simultaneous random scission of an initially terminal-branched polymer