Point of incipient
network formation in a process forming a chemical or physical
polymer network.
Notes:
- In both network-forming polymerization and the crosslinking of polymer chains, the gel
point is expressed as an extent of chemical reaction (c.f., gel time).
- At the gel point a solid (network) material spanning the entire system is formed.
- The gel point is often detected using rheological methods. Different methods
can give different gel points because viscosity is tending to infinity at the gel
point and a unique value cannot be measured directly.
Source:
PAC, 2007, 79, 1801
(Definitions of terms relating to the structure and processing of sols, gels, networks,
and inorganic-organic hybrid materials (IUPAC Recommendations 2007))
on page 1809
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by
A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997).
XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic,
J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
