Polymer chain entanglements and brittle fracture

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Abstract
A stochastic model is presented to predict the molecular weight dependence of the polymer fracture energy and strength for polymers with molecular weights higher than the critical value corresponding to the onset of entanglements. A chain scission criterion is invoked for the polymer chain segments crossing the fracture plane and being entangled about it. The presence of dangling ends is shown to be responsible for the change of the fracture properties with molecular weight. The predictions of the model agree with experimental data of the fracture energy and strength of poly(methyl methacrylate) and polystyrene.