The degradation of long‐chain molecules by ultrasonic waves. II. Degradation of polystyrene

The degradation by ultrasonic waves of a homogeneous polystyrene sample has been studied. The degradation does not proceed to the monomer but ceases at a definite intermediate chain length. A rate constant has been derived. The experimental size distributions of the polymer at various stages of the degradation have been determined and compared with size distributions derived from the theory of ultrasonic degradation. Satisfactory agreement has been found between experiment and theory for the main features of the degradation.