Scaling of the rupture dynamics of polymer chains pulled at one end at a constant rate.

We consider the rupture dynamics of a homopolymer chain pulled at one end at a constant loading rate r . Compared to single bond breaking, the existence of the chain introduces two aspects into rupture dynamics: The non-Markovian aspect in the barrier crossing and the slow down of the force propagation to the breakable bond. The relative impact of both these processes is investigated, and the second one was found to be the most important at moderate loading rates. The most probable rupture force is found to decrease with the number of bonds as f{max} proportional, variant-[ln(const N/r)]2/3 and finally to approach a saturation value independent on N . All of our analytical findings are confirmed by extensive numerical simulations.