Effect of Vitrification on Polymerisation Rate

The polymerisation or curing rate is a function of conversion and temperature, and can be defined as  

K is the reactivity rate constant, D is a constant, and is the critical extent of curing at which the glassy state is attained. Because switching from a reactivity-controlled reaction takes place gradually, the overall rate constant k (x, T) can be expressed using the Rabinovitch model [13] in terms of the Arrhenius rate constant (k) or reactivity rate constant (k ) and diffusion rate constant (k ) as follows [19, 20]  

During the initial stage of curing, a is much smaller than a (a aj f is close to unity, and curing is reactivity-controlled. 

a generalised autocatalytic and non-catalytic kinetic equation can be expressed, as shown next in Equations 1.19 and 1.20, respectively. 

1 Modelling from the Pressure, Volume and Temperature Approach 

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