Polymer morphology and random chain scission

A theory has been developed for the kinetics of random chain scission of polymers consisting of amorphous and crystalline (spherulite) phases. The degrees of degradation have been derived for such scission due to a gas which in one case is able to penetrate spherulites where degradation is then diffusion-controlled and in another case cannot diffuse into spherulites. In the later case, special conditions are prevalent in the amorphous–crystalline interface. Main-chain links in crystalline fold regions are assumed to scission faster than all other main-chain links due to strain energy.