Network formation by chain crosslinking photopolymerization and some applications in electronics

Two applications of photopolymerization are described, viz. the replication of optical discs and the manufacturing of aspherical lenses, used for the read-out of these discs. The development of these and similar processes has required a thorough understanding of the formation of densely crosslinked networks. Results on the evolution of crosslink density with conversion, the delay of shrinkage with respect to conversion and the occurrence and modelling of inhomogeneous network formation are presented.