MMA bulk polymerization and its influence on in situ resin viscosity comparing several chemorheological models

Earlier published rheological data of methyl methacrylate (MMA) heated and isothermally polymerized at temperatures between 50 and 80°C have been reanalyzed using three semiempirical models of viscosity advancement including a modified Boltzmann sigmoidal model, a microgel model for cure, and a first-order isothermal kinetic model. These alternative models possessed few fitting parameters and could be used without requiring more experiments to be run. For each dataset as a function of temperature, the analysis resolved time constants associated with both the induction time for polymerization and the rate of viscosity rise, which were inversely related to the polymerization temperature. We found the sigmoidal model the most robust to accommodate nonlinearities in viscosity advancement with radical polymerization of MMA.