Thermal Frontal Polymerization in Polymer Composites: Numerical Simulation and the Role of Fe 3 O 4 Nanoparticle Fillers

Thermal Frontal Polymerization in Polymer Composites: Numerical Simulation and the Role of Fe 3 O 4 Nanoparticle Fillers | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Thermal Frontal Polymerization in Polymer Composites: Numerical Simulation and the Role of Fe 3 O 4 Nanoparticle Fillers Margit Lang, Christoph Schmidleitner, Venu Prakash Kasinikota, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4628798/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 27 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Applied Composite Materials → Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Recently Thermal Frontal Polymerization (TFP) has emerged as a low-energy alternative, that enables rapid and energy-efficient manufacturing of composites. Thus, compared to conventional processes, this innovative curing and polymerization process exhibits improved efficiency and reduced environmental impact and provides a promising strategy to address sustainability challenges. However, successful TFP requires a delicate balance of reaction rates, exothermicity, and efficient heat transport into unpolymerized media while minimizing heat losses to the surroundings. In this context, sustaining TFP of polymers reinforced with highly conductive fillers is challenging due to the increased energy dissipation and reduced availability of exothermic energy as the filler content increases at the cost of resin volume. In this work, a numerical study of the TFP based manufacturing of Bisphenol A Diglycidyl Ether (BADGE) filled with Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles is presented. The simulation provides insight into the thermo-chemical process and into the impact of different particle filling degrees on the key characteristics of TFP, i.e., maximum attainable degree of cure, maximum temperature, front shape, and front speed. Thermal Frontal Polymerization (TFP) Polymer Composites Nanoparticle Fillers Polymerization Front Heat Loss Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 27 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Applied Composite Materials → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 01 Nov, 2024 Reviews received at journal 29 Aug, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Jul, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 25 Jun, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 25 Jun, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 25 Jun, 2024 First submitted to journal 24 Jun, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4628798","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":327339308,"identity":"f77ffcf7-4949-4720-8242-5421620bc096","order_by":0,"name":"Margit Lang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA3UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYLCCBAYGGSDF+IABwiBGSwIDD5BiNgASQAYzcdaAtLBJEKVFt/3s4xcPfzDw8M9uv1ZdUGPHw8B+/gBeLWZn0s0sQA6TuHOm7PaMY8k8DDzJ+G0xO5DGZgD2y42ctNu8DQeADiOk5fwziBZ5oJZisBb+xwS03EhjfgDSYnAj/RgzWIsEIVtuPGNjSEiT4DG8kcMsDfILm8RjAwIOS2P++MPGRk7uRvrDz8AQk+PnT3yA3xpIdIBjxAAcIWyE1AMB8wcIzf6AqGgfBaNgFIyCkQcAJXE+ZHOpIXsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH (PCCL)","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Margit","middleName":"","lastName":"Lang","suffix":""},{"id":327339310,"identity":"4db2bb45-aef3-4b0c-a2f2-277e51fa21e3","order_by":1,"name":"Christoph Schmidleitner","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH (PCCL)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christoph","middleName":"","lastName":"Schmidleitner","suffix":""},{"id":327339312,"identity":"f8cd10f6-a21b-44b1-bd90-771401921bd3","order_by":2,"name":"Venu Prakash Kasinikota","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH (PCCL)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Venu","middleName":"Prakash","lastName":"Kasinikota","suffix":""},{"id":327339313,"identity":"570129ee-473c-40a7-94d3-2b1dd0ed949f","order_by":3,"name":"Elisabeth Rossegger","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH (PCCL)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Elisabeth","middleName":"","lastName":"Rossegger","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-06-24 08:52:15","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4628798/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4628798/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10443-025-10309-5","type":"published","date":"2025-02-27T15:57:53+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":77623261,"identity":"112fee54-1ffe-4beb-8ce5-c568574d1f0a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-03 16:11:29","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1033476,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"02ACMAMargitLangManuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4628798/v1_covered_93e778e9-1298-4d28-8bc6-d3c9257120c3.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Thermal Frontal Polymerization in Polymer Composites: Numerical Simulation and the Role of Fe 3 O 4 Nanoparticle Fillers","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"applied-composite-materials","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"acma","sideBox":"Learn more about [Applied Composite Materials](http://link.springer.com/journal/10443)","snPcode":"10443","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10443/3","title":"Applied Composite Materials","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Thermal Frontal Polymerization (TFP), Polymer Composites, Nanoparticle Fillers, Polymerization Front, Heat Loss","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4628798/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4628798/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eRecently Thermal Frontal Polymerization (TFP) has emerged as a low-energy alternative, that enables rapid and energy-efficient manufacturing of composites. Thus, compared to conventional processes, this innovative curing and polymerization process exhibits improved efficiency and reduced environmental impact and provides a promising strategy to address sustainability challenges. However, successful TFP requires a delicate balance of reaction rates, exothermicity, and efficient heat transport into unpolymerized media while minimizing heat losses to the surroundings. In this context, sustaining TFP of polymers reinforced with highly conductive fillers is challenging due to the increased energy dissipation and reduced availability of exothermic energy as the filler content increases at the cost of resin volume. In this work, a numerical study of the TFP based manufacturing of Bisphenol A Diglycidyl Ether (BADGE) filled with Fe\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e nanoparticles is presented. The simulation provides insight into the thermo-chemical process and into the impact of different particle filling degrees on the key characteristics of TFP, i.e., maximum attainable degree of cure, maximum temperature, front shape, and front speed.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Thermal Frontal Polymerization in Polymer Composites: Numerical Simulation and the Role of Fe 3 O 4 Nanoparticle Fillers","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-07-16 10:44:37","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4628798/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2024-11-01T17:06:05+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-08-29T21:03:29+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"104709144086440839434278239998646398195","date":"2024-07-22T22:00:49+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2024-06-25T14:37:46+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2024-06-25T07:16:33+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2024-06-25T07:15:37+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Applied Composite Materials","date":"2024-06-24T08:50:39+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"applied-composite-materials","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"acma","sideBox":"Learn more about [Applied Composite Materials](http://link.springer.com/journal/10443)","snPcode":"10443","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10443/3","title":"Applied Composite Materials","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"8d263673-fc8f-4734-a9da-1b7f379d7309","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 16th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-03-03T16:09:43+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-4628798","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10443-025-10309-5","journal":{"identity":"applied-composite-materials","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Applied Composite Materials"},"publishedOn":"2025-02-27 15:57:53","publishedOnDateReadable":"February 27th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2024-07-16 10:44:37","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s10443-025-10309-5","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10443-025-10309-5","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4628798","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4628798","identity":"rs-4628798","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}