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Chemistry

Faculty Publications

Polymerization

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Snell's Law Of Refraction Observed In Thermal Frontal Polymerization, John A. Pojman, Veronika Viner, Burcu Binici, Shanna Lavergne, Melanie Winsper, Dmitry Golovaty, Laura Gross Sep 2007

Snell's Law Of Refraction Observed In Thermal Frontal Polymerization, John A. Pojman, Veronika Viner, Burcu Binici, Shanna Lavergne, Melanie Winsper, Dmitry Golovaty, Laura Gross

Faculty Publications

We demonstrate that Snell’s law of refraction can be applied to thermal fronts propagating through a boundary between regions that support distinct frontal velocities. We use the free-radical frontal polymerization of a triacrylate with clay filler that allows for two domains containing two different concentrations of a peroxide initiator to be molded together. Because the polymerization reaction rates depend on the initiator concentration, the propagation speed is different in each domain. We study fronts propagating in two parallel strips in which the incident angle is 90°. Our data fit Snell’s law vr/vi = sin θr/sin …


Shape Imprinting Due To Variable Disulfide Bonds In Polyacrylamide Gels, Andrew B. Greytak, Alexander Y. Grosberg, Toyoichi Tanaka Jun 2001

Shape Imprinting Due To Variable Disulfide Bonds In Polyacrylamide Gels, Andrew B. Greytak, Alexander Y. Grosberg, Toyoichi Tanaka

Faculty Publications

Through the use of variable disulfide crosslinkers, we have created polyacrylamide gels whose shape can be altered after polymerization. N,N'-bisacryloylcystamine is incorporated as a crosslinker, along with a smaller amount of a permanent crosslinker. After polymerization, the disulfide bonds are cleaved into thiols through reduction. By reoxidizing the thiols with the gel held in a new macroscopic shape, a new set of disulfide bonds is formed, and the gel is forced to adopt the new shape. Retension of the new shape improves with greater distortion from the original shape, as well as with increased concentration of variable …


Numerical Modeling Of Self-Propagating Polymerization Fronts: The Role Of Kinetics On Front Stability, Stanislav E. Solovyov, Victor M. Ilyashenko, John A. Pojman Jun 1997

Numerical Modeling Of Self-Propagating Polymerization Fronts: The Role Of Kinetics On Front Stability, Stanislav E. Solovyov, Victor M. Ilyashenko, John A. Pojman

Faculty Publications

Frontal propagation of a highly exothermic polymerization reaction in a liquid is studied with the goal of developing a mathematical model of the process. As a model case we consider monomers such as methacrylic acid and n-butyl acrylate with peroxide initiators, although the model is not limited to these reactants and can be applied to any system with the similar basic polymerization mechanism. A three-step reaction mechanism, including initiation, propagation and termination steps, as well as a more simple one-step mechanism, were considered. For the one-step mechanism the loss of stability of propagating front was observed as a sequence …