Traveling Fronts of Addition Polymerization With a Solid Monomer

An autocatalytic reaction in an unstirred vessel can support a constant velocity wavefront resulting from the coupling of diffusion to the chemical reaction. Propagating fronts of polymerization have been studied in the former Soviet Union. We have been investigating polymerization fronts with high boiling oint monomers that can be studied visually and NMR. Propagating fronts of solid-state combustion reactions have been studied as a means to make new materials and to observe nonlinear propagation phenomena such as pulsating and spinning fronts