Kinetics of bulk polymerisation and Gompertz's law

Abstract

The kinetics of bulk photo-polymerisation of multifunctional monomers, leading to highly cross-linked polymers, has been investigated by in situ real-time Raman spectroscopy. The decrease with time of the monomer content is described by a modified Gompertzian function originally developed for population dynamics. This function is flexible enough to take into account inhibitor effect, gel effect and glass effect which are characteristic for curing of technical polymer coatings. Layers of commercial acrylic resins with a thickness of 50 μm, with commercial initiators, are taken as model systems for the UV-curing. The proof-of-concept is presented that the combination of Raman hardware and Gompertzian software enables systematic laboratory tests of curable systems.