Self-propagating free-radical binary frontal polymerization (Q701820)

The authors present a mathematical model for free-radical binary frontal polymerization. This model describes the experimental situation that a test tube is filled with a mixture of two monomers and an initiator. By using simplifying assumptions, they derive expressions for final monomer concentrations, temperature at the front, and propagation velocity. These expressions are compared to numerical results of the full equation to demonstrate that the approximate analytical solutions are sufficiently accurate. They use methods from combustion theory and perturbation techniques to obtain approximate solutions. They also study which parameters in the equation affect the velocity and temperature of the front. They conculde that the comonomer feed and the kinetics of the monomers and initiator highly influence the front velocity, while the front temperature has a less influence on the velocity. This is unusual, since in frontal homopolymerization and frontal copolymerization the front temperature is dominant in determining the velocity of the front.