Analogy and Difference between Gelation and Percolation Process

Abstract

It has been verified that the theory of gelation with cyclization effects is in good accord with experimental observations of gel points and gel fractions. Encouraged by this success we scrutinize the prediction limit of the theory through the rigor of the bond percolation theory. Significant disparity is found between the prediction of the gelation theory and that of the percolation theory. To find the reason of the disparity, we re-examine the distribution function of bond animals; the analysis showing that the percolation process differs from real gelations in two points: (i) whereas the real gelation obeys the principle of equireactivity of functional units, the percolation process does not; (ii) the substantial reduction of functionality occurs through the percolation process. These make the lattice model intrinsically different from real chemical processes. As a result, one can not make use of the percolation theory for the purpose of examining the validity of the gelation theory.