(in a chain polymerization) Chemical reaction between a chain carrier and a monomer that results in the growth of a polymer chain and the regeneration of at least one chain carrier.
Note 1: The recommended symbol for the rate constant for chain propagation in a homopolymerization is kp.
Penczek S.; Moad, G. Pure Appl. Chem., 2008, 80(10), 2163-2193
In chemistry, chain propagation (sometimes just referred to as propagation) is a process in which a reactive intermediate is continuously regenerated during the course of a chemical chain reaction. For example, in the chlorination of methane, there is a two-step propagation cycle involving as chain carriers a chlorine atom and a methyl radical[1] which are regenerated alternately:
The two steps add to give the equation for the overall chain reaction: