  We report molecular dynamics simulations of a gel-forming mixture of
ellipsoidal patchy particles with different functionality. We show that in this
model, which disfavors the formation of bond-loops, elapsed time during
irreversible aggregation -- leading to the formation of an extended network --
can be formally correlated with equilibrium temperature in reversible
aggregation. We also show that it is possible to develop a parameter-free
description of the self-assembly kinetics, bringing reversible and irreversible
aggregation of loopless branched systems to the same level of understanding as
equilibrium polymerization.
