Thermal effects in polymerisations – a live view differentiating between bulk effects, thermal diffusion, and oxygen inhibition

Abstract

Thermography has been shown to be an efficient tool for the screening of the efficiency of exothermic reactions. Here we show that the use of a thermal IR camera reveals effects of heat transfer in polymerising mixtures if appropriately designed reaction vessels are used. We report on case studies illustrated by photo-induced radical polymerisation of butyl acrylate and thermally triggered ring-opening metathesis polymerisation of dicyclopentadiene.