{
  "abstract": "The delayed transformation of a reactive material into a solid phase is limited, in most thermal-management approaches, by a basic trade-off between transport stability and transformation speed. We formulate and computationally analyze a coupled zero-dimensional model in which (i) a lumped thermal energy balance governs the fluid element's temperature, including exothermic self-heating from the reaction itself; (ii) the release of a reaction-triggering species follows a physically motivated first-order relaxation toward a temperature dependent, Arrhenius-rate-controlled saturation level (a lumped analog to shell-diffusion-limited release), rather than a prescribed availability function; and (iii) the triggered reaction follows Kamal–Sourour autocatalytic kinetics. Four dimensionless groups — Λ=0.911 (release-to-reaction timescale ratio), Θ=0.454 (thermal-to-reaction timescale ratio), ψ=10.08 (reduced exothermicity), and Ar=18.9 (activation-sensitivity number) — are used to organize the parameter space. An objectively matched (not arbitrarily scaled) comparison against a first-order control, whose rate constant is root-solved for equal t50 rather than assigned an assumed scaling factor, shows that the coupled autocatalytic system is Pareto-optimal: across 60 sampled first-order rate constants spanning a wide range, none simultaneously matches or beats the coupled system on both premature conversion (α at t=25 min) and completion time (t90). A two-parameter regime map over (Θ, Λ) identifies thermally limited, release-limited, and reaction-limited regions, with the thermally limited region driving peak exothermic overshoots up to 204°C above the setpoint. Because complete suppression of conversion below the nominal activation threshold is a structural consequence of the idealized (zero-width) gate rather than an independent prediction, we reframe the falsifiable claim around a finite-width thermal gate: increasing the gate width from 0.5°C to 15°C is predicted to reduce premature conversion (α at t=25 min falling from 0.073 to 0.039) at the cost of slower completion (t90 rising from 34.1 to 40.4 min) — a quantified, directly testable trade-off. Vectorized Monte Carlo propagation of joint uncertainty across nine kinetic, release, and thermal parameters (N=20,000) indicates that 69.9% of the draws satisfy both a minimum induction time and a 75-minute completion target, with reaction-kinetics parameters (most notably Ea2, Spearman r=0.69) dominating the predicted variance over thermal or release-timescale parameters. Three falsifiable predictions, each paired with a standard dynamic-DSC or rheo-DSC validation protocol, are stated for future experimental testing.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Independent Researcher"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Leon Sandler",
      "orcid": "0009-0007-4584-808X"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fkzd5ctqzxt4p.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15008366/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "fkzd5ctqzxt4p",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008366/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2505|Thermal and Kinetic Analysis"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7211898796",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008366/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-06",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fkzd5ctqzxt4p.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:17Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15008366",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008366/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:2505|Thermal and Kinetic Analysis",
      "subfield": "materials-polymers"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Coupled Thermal Activation and Autocatalytic Cure Kinetics: A Theoretical and Computational Study of Delayed Reactive Transformation",
  "title_text": "Coupled Thermal Activation and Autocatalytic Cure Kinetics: A Theoretical and Computational Study of Delayed Reactive Transformation",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:17Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fkzd5ctqzxt4p",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}