An analytical relation between relaxation time spectrum and molecular weight distribution

In this article it is shown that the relaxation time spectrum can be analytically related to the molecular weight distribution regarding a recently derived generalized mixing rule. This analytical relation greatly reduces the computational effort to determine the molecular weight distribution from the relaxation time spectrum. In this mixing rule a generalized mixing parameter β has been introduced. This parameter has been controversially discussed in the literature. The value of β has been determined theoretically by [The Theory of Polymer Dynamics (Clarendon, Oxford, 1986)] as β=1 and [Europhys. Lett. 5, 437–442 (1988); 6, 475 (1988)] and [Polym. Prepr. (Am. Chem. Soc. Div. Polym. Chem.) 28, 185–186 (1987)] (β=2) and experimentally by [J. Rheol. 42, 1153–1173 (1998)] (β=3.84). In this article the influence of β on shape and position of peaks in bimodal molecular weight distributions is emphasized.