Mathematical Problems in Engineering
Volume 4 (1998), Issue 5, Pages 377-391
doi:10.1155/S1024123X9800088X
A model of frontal polymerization including the gel effect
Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University, Evanston 60208-3125, IL, USA
Received 7 November 1997
Copyright © 1998 P. M. Goldfeder and V. A. Volpert. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Frontal polymerization is a process in which a spatially localized reaction zone propagates into a monomer, converting it into a polymer. This new approach to polymer production
requires both theoretical and experimental study. Agreement between the existing theoretical and experimental work done on this subject has generally been fairly good. However, experimental results tend to show a higher degree of conversion than theoretical results. The reason for this discrepancy may be attributed to an autoacceleration of the polymerization rate which occurs when conversion has reached a certain point. This autoacceleration is due to a decrease in the termination rate caused by a phenomenon known as the gel effect. In this paper, we develop a mathematical model of the frontal polymerization process, taking the gel effect into consideration. Specifically, we determine how it will affect the degree of conversion, maximum temperature, and propagation velocity of the system.