A study of the effects of thiols on the frontal polymerization and pot life of multifunctional acrylate systems with cumene hydroperoxide

In an effort to create frontal polymerization systems with a “fail‐safe” curing mechanism, we studied the effects of thiols on the thermal frontal polymerization velocity and pot life of a mixture of a multifunctional acrylate, kaolin clay (filler), and cumene hydroperoxide with either trimethylolpropane tris(3‐mercaptopropionate) or 1‐dodecanethiol (DDT). The acrylates were trimethylolpropane triacrylate, trimethylolpropane ethoxylate triacrylate, 1,6‐hexanediol diacrylate, and di(ethylene glycol) diacrylate. Without a thiol, frontal polymerization did not occur. The front velocity increased with the concentration of either thiol, which has not been observed with peroxide initiators. The use of DDT yielded longer pot lives than the trithiol. The front velocities were inversely related to the pot lives. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013 , 51, 3850–3855