Modeling of polymerization of urea and formaldehyde using functional group approach

The urea formaldehyde polymerization has been modeled using the functional group approach, which accounts for the formation of higher oligomers. The kinetic model involves four molecular species and three rate constants, as opposed to six as proposed in earlier studies. The experimental data of Price et al. have been curve fitted using our model, which is found to describe them very well in the entire range of temperature and urea formaldehyde ratio. Based on the activation energies, it has been argued that the reverse reaction step must involve the condensation product, water.