Practical microwave curing studies for undergraduates

✍ Scribed by Ng, Loo-Teck; Chia, Lawrence H L

• Book ID: 101227681
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 68 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0959-8103
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0126(199910)48:10<952::aid-pi253>3.0.co;2-u

✦ Synopsis

Microwave curing has recently generated interest as an alternative to the conventional thermal curing of polymers. Advantages of the microwave process over the thermal method include faster curing times, improved ef®ciency of curing, and enhanced properties of the polymers. This paper describes an undergraduate polymer chemistry experiment utilizing a domestic microwave oven for the curing of methyl methacrylate. Thermal curing was also carried out as a comparative study. The percentage conversions at ®xed time intervals using both processes were determined using FTIR spectroscopy. Results show that the percentage conversions using the thermal method increased slowly over the 18 min reaction time. However, there was a signi®cant increase in the rate of polymerization at the end the same reaction period using the microwave method, equivalent to 3.5 times that of the thermal method. This experiment successfully demonstrates that microwave method is not only a safe but also a reliable and faster alternative to the thermal method of curing some polymers.