AbstractMultifunctional monomers (trimethylol propane trimethacrylate, trimethylol propane triacrylate, pentaerythritol tetraacrylate, and dipentaerythritol monohydroxy pentaacrylate) were photopolymerized with 2,2‐dimethoxy‐2‐phenylacetophenone as the photoinitiator to produce highly crosslinked networks. The volume shrinkage behavior and the reaction kinetics were studied under various reaction conditions. The volume shrinkage and maximum functional group conversion were dependent on the number of functional groups, type of functional group, and the curing conditions. The maximum functional group conversion was also dependent on the reaction temperature. All the polymerized systems exhibited a strong coupling between the volume relaxation and the reaction kinetics. The kinetic constants were also determined as a function of conversion, and the termination mechanism was found to be reaction diffusion dominated even at low conversions. The importance of these results on the prediction of the reaction behavior for multifunctional monomers producing highly crosslinked polymers is discussed. © 1994 John Wiley&Son