A diffusion model of the development of concentration heterogeneities in a photopolymerizable environment with allowance for the limited compatibility of a monomer and a polymer

A diffusion model of the development of concentration heterogeneities of a photopolymerizable composite that takes into account the transition of the monomer-polymer system from the homophase state to the heterophase state with an increase in conversion is proposed. Numerical simulation shows that a significant increase in the amplitude of these heterogeneities is determined not only by the microsyneresis of the composite but also by the efficiency of their development in the homophase state at the initial stage of polymerization. The possibility of controlling the optical properties of the final polymeric material via initiation of the polymerization by radiation of different intensities in the regions of the homophase and heterophase states of the composite is discussed. The numerical-simulation results are experimentally verified.