Chemical process of converting a
prepolymer or a polymer into a polymer of higher molar mass and then into a
network.
Notes:
- Curing is achieved by the induction of chemical reactions which might or might not require mixing with a chemical curing agent.
- Physical aging, crystallization, physical crosslinking and post-polymerization
reactions are sometimes referred to as 'curing'. Use of the term 'curing' to describe such processes is deprecated.
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 1822