Polymerization under microgravity conditions: Results and perspectives

A comparative analysis of numerical and terrestrial modeling results and tests on a centrifuge and the data obtained from microgravity experiments shows that the gravitational force drastically interferes with the examined polymerization process and gives rise to essential inhomogeneities in the final polymeric structures. The principal mechanism for gravitational dependence of polymerization in terrestrial conditions is the convection of the reaction mixture, caused by a density variation due to reaction exothermicity and chemical conversion of a monomer in the bulk of polymerizing mixture. It was also demonstrated that in the case of polymerization the most deleterious are different types of front stabilities.