Post-cure, 324 Association polymers

The epoxy resin data and the post-cure data, taken together, show that the dipolar relaxation is associated with the temperature dependence of the polymer chain mobility in the vicinity of the glass transition. The WLF analysis of the dipolar relaxation during cure has not been carried out. In order to complete the analysis, correlated measurements of Tg, extent of cure, and dielectric properties must be made as functions of cure time and temperature. In the absence of such definitive studies, various indirect methods have been employed to analyze dielectric relaxations in curing systems, as described below. 

The majority of the polymerization of a dental composite resin occurs very quickly, typically during the 20-40 s or so of light irradiation from the dental cure lamp. However, free radicals within the material do not terminate immediately the lamp switches off. Hence they are able to continue their propagation steps for some time after this initial cure, as growing polymer molecules containing free radical centres continue to incorporate extra monomer molecules [24]. Shrinkage, which is associated with polymerization, has been shown to continue for up to 24h after initial setting [25] in a process known as post-polymerization [26]. 

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