Polyaddition

Polyaddition A polymerization in which the growth of polymer chains proceeds by addition reactions between molecules of all degrees of polymerization.

The growth steps are expressed by: Px+Py → Px+y {x}∈{1,2,…∞};{y}∈{1,2,…∞} where Px and Py denote chains of degrees of polymerization x and y, respectively.

[1] Polyaddition (or addition polymerisation [2][3]) is a polymerization reaction that forms polymers via individual independent addition reactions.

Polyaddition occurs as a reaction between functional groups on molecules with low degrees of polymerization, such as dimers, trimers and oligomers, to form species of higher molar mass.

Only at nearly complete conversions does the polymer form, as in polycondensation and in contrast to chain polymerization.