Local autoacceleration propagating front

Spontaneous Frontal Polymerization Propagating Front Spontaneously Generated by Locally Autoaccelerated Free-Radical Polymerization... 

Frontal polymerization discovered in 1972 (5) could be realized in free-radical polymerization because of its nonlinear behavior. If the top of a mixture of monomer and initiator in a tube is attached to an external heat source, die initiators are locally decomposed to generate radicals. The polymerization locally initiated is autoaccelerated by the c(xnbinatithermal autocatalysis exclusively at the top of the reaction systmn. An interface between reacted and unreacted regions, called propagating front, is thus formed. Pojman et al. extensively studied the dynamics of frontal polymerization (d-P) and its applicatim in matoials syndiesis (I -I3). 

Local Autoacceleration of Polymerization to Form a Propagating Front... 

Asakura, K., Nihei, E., Harasawa, H., Ikumo, A., and Osanai, S. (2004) Spontaneous frontal polymerization propagating front spontaneously generated by locally autoaccelerated fee-radical polymerization. Nonlinear Dyn. Polym. Syst., 869, 135-146. 

Lewis and Volpert continue the discussion of the isothermal form of frontal polymerization in Chapter 5. Isothermal frontal polymerization is also a localized reaction zone that propagates but because of the autoacceleration of the rate of free-radical polymerization with conversion. A seed of poly(methyl methacrylate) is placed in contact with a solution of a peroxide or nitrile initiator, and a front propagates from the seed. The monomer diffuses into the seed, creating a viscous zone in which the rate of polymerization is faster than in the bulk solution. The result is a front that propagates but not with a constant velocity because the reaction is proceeding in the bulk solution at a slower rate. This process is used to create gradient refractive index materials by adding the appropriate dopant. 

---