HEAT TRANSFER AND CURING IN POLYMER REACTION MOLDING.

This paper is concerned with theoretical aspects of heat and mass transfer in polymer reaction molding which can be broken down into several operations. Each process must include: component metering, either batch or continuous; intensive mixing to bring the reactants into intimate molecular contact within a time scale short compared to the process cycle time; flow into the final shape, such as filling a mold; react or ″cure″ in shape until part is stiff enough to remove; and a post-curing step which is sometimes used to improve modulus, and dimensional stability. Mathematical models used in this study describe the heat transfer, mass transfer and dimensionless equations. Calculated temperature profiles are given for adiabatic process and isothermal wall. Calculated property changes are related to gel point of molding systems.