University of Illinois

Justine E Paul

Jeffrey S Moore

Nancy R Sottos

Katherine J Stawiasz

Kevin Jerome Schwarz

Benjamin A Suslick

A frontally polymerized polymeric body includes, according to a first embodiment, a deformable polymer comprising polydicyclopentadiene (pDCPD) and/or poly(5-ethylidene-2-norbornene) (pENB), where the deformable polymer has a fracture strain of at least about 0.5 mm mm. According to a second embodiment, the frontally polymerized polymeric body includes a first polymer comprising pDCPD and/or pENB, and a second polymer adjacent to the first polymer also comprising the pDCPD and/or the pENB. The second polymer is more or less deformable than the first polymer. Thus, the frontally polymerized polymeric body exhibits spatially varying mechanical and/or other properties.

Frontally polymerized polymeric body and method of producing a polymeric body having spatially varying properties

A method of light-promoted frontal ring-opening metathesis polymerization includes providing a monomer solution including dicyclopentadiene, a ruthenium-based catalyst and a phosphite inhibitor, and exposing the monomer solution to ultraviolet light having a wavelength in a range from 315 nm to 400 nm, thereby initiating an exothermic polymerization reaction and generating a self-propagating polymerization front. The polymerization front moves through the monomer solution and polymerizes the dicyclopentadiene.

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Savoy, IL, United States of America

Justine E Paul