Fast curing of thick components of epoxy via modified UV-triggered frontal polymerization propagating horizontally

This work aims at exploring a fast and facile technique for epoxy curing. Modified UV-triggered frontal polymerization propagating horizontally (hFP) is herein adopted to cure thick component of an alicyclic epoxy in a rapid fashion. The front velocity Vf and maximum temperature Tmax are found to increase with the augment of the concentration of the thermal initiator (TI). The obtained condensates are characterized and found to have a high curing degree, good mechanical property and thermal stability. Especially, a propagating angle θ is observed clearly for the first time during the curing process. The hFP approach is believed to exhibit great potential applications in preparation of low-cost, high-performance epoxy-based coating and composite materials.