Frontal polymerization with encapsulated monomer

Thermal frontal polymerization (TFP) is the process that converts monomers into polymers by means of a spatially localized self-propagating thermal reaction wave. Free radical frontal polymerization systems can suffer from a limited pot life, i.e. the systems will spontaneously polymerize while remaining at ambient pressure and temperature before they can be used. One way to avoid this undesirable spontaneous polymerization is by microencapsulating the monomer. The release of monomer from its shell can be modeled as a temperature dependent or temperature independent reaction; we consider both cases. Conditions are established which reduce the current model to the standard FP model and extinction limits are determined by employing an asymptotic analysis of the reaction zone in the limit as the reaction zone shrinks to an interface.