Method of manufacturing a high temperature plastic light conduit

A method of operating a reactor for production of thermoset or thermoplastic polymers progressively from one end of a lengthwise chemical container, wherein the reactor comprises a tank, means for creating and maintaining an inert cold zone, means for creating and maintaining a reaction-inducing hot zone, means for creating and maintaining a dead zone spatially and thermally separating said cold zone from said hot zone, and means for controlling the temperature, size and location of said cold zone, said hot zone, and said dead zone, comprising:

• a. filling said tank with cold fluid at a predetermined temperature, creating a cold zone;
• b. loading chemicals to be reacted into said container;
• c. disposing said container vertically within said tank;
• d. initially introducing hot fluid heated to a predetermined temperature into the bottom of said tank, wherein said hot fluid is more dense than said cold fluid;
• e. withdrawing a volume of cold fluid from the top of said tank simultaneously with the introduction of hot fluid at the bottom of said tank, with the volume of cold fluid being withdrawn substantially equal to the volume of said hot fluid being introduced;
• f. sequentially introducing hot fluid heated to a predetermined temperature at successively higher levels of said tank;
• g. sequentially withdrawing a volume of cold fluid from the top of said tank simultaneously with the introduction of hot fluid at each said level, with the volume of said cold fluid withdrawn substantially equal to the volume of said hot fluid introduced;
• h. controlling the rate and location of sequential ingress of hot fluid and the withdrawal of cold fluid so as to create and maintain a low turbulence interface thermally insulating the layers of said cold fluid and said hot fluid which are in juxtaposition;
• and
• i. continuing steps (f), (g) and (h) at a predetermined rate until all cold fluid has been withdrawn and replaced with hot fluid.

A method of polymerizing a monomer mixture comprising the steps of:

• substantially filling a length of elongated sheath with essentially impurity free, essentially inhibitor free precursor reagants which are capable of being polymerized into a flexible thermosetting polymer;
• placing the substantially filled sheath in an elongated sealable tank which has been filled with a first fluid and inclined at an angle from the horizontal sufficient to localize bubbles which may form in the reaction of said polymerizable reagents;
• sealing the tank;
• pressurizing the interior of the tank;
• selecting a second fluid which is more dense than the first fluid;
• maintaining the second fluid at a temperature higher than the temperature of the first fluid;
• introducing the second fluid into the bottom of the tank, thereby creating an interface with the second fluid on the bottom and the first fluid on top;
• progressively initiating polymerization by raising the interface by simultaneously and equally decreasing the volume of the first fluid and increasing the volume of the second fluid in the tank until the second fluid encompasses the length of the portion of the elongated sheath which contains the precursor reagents.