Curing Reaction and Kinetics

Abstract

The study of polymerization kinetics is of great interest in dentistry, particularly for restorative composites. Most commonly, those materials are composed of multimethacrylate monomers, photopolymerized to give a cross-linked polymer network. The rate at which that reaction takes place influences not only the final degree of conversion (extent of polymerization) but also some of the important physical and mechanical properties of the final material. Understanding how the polymerization progresses is important for researchers developing new materials and for clinicians to obtain the best performance out of the final restoration. In this chapter, the different types of polymerization will be discussed, so to contextualized the mechanisms involved in the polymerization of methacrylates and chain-transfer reactions induced by the presence of thiols. Emphasis will also be given to particular aspects of the photoinitiation reaction.