Effect of interchange reactions on the molecular weight distribution of poly(ethylene terephthalate): A Monte Carlo simulation

The effect of the interchange reactions of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) on its molecular weight distribution (MWD) was analyzed using a Monte Carlo simulation method. Three kinds of motions, which correspond to the direct ester(SINGLEBOND)ester interchange reaction, alcoholysis, and internal alcoholysis in polyester, were performed in this simulation: bond flip, end attack, and backbite. Two systems with two different types of nonequilibrium distribution (monodisperse and bimodal distribution) were initially prepared. The initial biases from equilibrium MWD are rapidly relaxed to an equilibrium MWD as the reaction progresses. The MWD at equilibrium is well described by the most probable MWD proposed by Flory. From the polydispersity data, it is concluded that about 0.3 interchanges per segment are sufficient to equilibrate the nonequilibrium system. For the validity of the simulation, the variation of MWD of the mixtures of two PETs having different molecular weights were monitored using gel permeation chromatography. The agreement between simulation and experiment is remarkably good. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.