Abstract

A deeper understanding of the processes, which occur during free radical photopolymerization, is necessary in order to develop a fully comprehensive model, which represents their behavior during exposure. One of these processes is photoinitiation, whereby a photon is absorbed by a photosensitizer producing free radicals, which can initiate polymerization. These free radicals can also participate in polymer chain termination primary termination, and it is therefore necessary to understand their generation in order to predict the temporally varying kinetic effects present during holographic grating formation. In this paper, a study of the photoinitiation mechanisms of Irgacure 784 photosensitizer, in an epoxy resin matrix, is presented. We report our experimental results and present a theoretical model to predict the physically observed behavior.