Mechanical Properties Evaluation of PVC/plasticizers and PVC/thermoplastic Polyurethane Blends From Extrusion Processing
Mechanical Properties Evaluation of PVC/plasticizers and PVC/thermoplastic Polyurethane Blends From Extrusion Processing
Mechanical Properties Evaluation of PVC/plasticizers and PVC/thermoplastic Polyurethane Blends From Extrusion Processing
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3 AUTHORS, INCLUDING:
Victor J. R. R. Pita
Elisabeth Monteiro
SEE PROFILE
SEE PROFILE
Material Properties
a,*
Instituto de Macromoleculas, Professora Eloisa Mano Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, CP 68525, Rio de Janeiro,
21945-970, Brazil
b
Campus regional da UERJ, Nova Friburgo, RJ, Brazil
Received 17 July 2001; accepted 16 October 2001
Abstract
Mechanical and processing properties of blends of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) with di-isodecyl phthalate (DIDP) and
thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) were compared with di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DOP). The influence of processing
conditions on the mechanical properties was studied by changing the content of the additives and using different twin
screw speeds. The mechanical properties (tensile strength, modulus, and energy) of PVC/DIDP presented the same
behaviour as PVC/DOP at all concentrations. The mechanical characteristics of PVC/DOP and PVC/DIDP show that
these systems are probably affected by the speed of the twin screw. Polyurethane blends exhibit better structural
properties compared to the other plasticizers. The twin screw speed exhibited no influence on the stressstrain property
profile of the PVC/TPU blends. The results indicate a minor influence on the decrease of PVC properties when the
plasticizer used is a TPU. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: PVC/plasticizers blends; Mechanical properties; Extrusion processing
1. Introduction
Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) plays an important role in
the plastic industry and is one of the most versatile
thermoplastics, but it must be combined with a number
of additives before processing.
Low-molecular-weight plasticizer is one of the major
additives used in PVC compounding. The addition of
plasticizers to a PVC formulation decreases many mechanical properties of the PVC product (hardness, tensile
strength, modulus, etc.); however, low-temperature
flexibility, elongation, and the ease of processing are all
0142-9418/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 4 2 - 9 4 1 8 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 1 2 2 - 2
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2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
The commercial PVC used in this study was a suspension polymerized homopolymer, molecular weight distribution=2.6, supplied by Tryken Company (Brazil) and
designated as Norvic SP 1100 HP. Vulcan Company
(Brazil) supplied the PVC stabilizers UBZ 790, Ba/Zn
type, and commercial DOP and DIDP. COFADESociedade Fabricadora de Elasto mero Ltda, Sa o Paulo, Brazil, supplied the TPU used [1,4-butanediol 15.3%,
poly(1,4-butylene adipate) 35.1%, and MDI 19.6%].
2.2. Sample preparation and characterization
Before processing the PVC, 4 parts of stabilizer were
added to 100 parts of PVC by using a Haake laboratory
twin screw extruder TW 100 Rheocord 9000. The composition of these blends is reported in Table 1. The thermal profile was 140150160170 C for all blends. The
screw speeds were 30, 60 and 100 rpm.
The mechanical tests were carried out by means of a
Table 1
Composition of investigated blend
Sample
Composition (phr)
PVC/DOP
PVC/DOP
PVC/DOP
PVC/DIDP
PVC/DIDP
PVC/DIDP
PVC/TPU
PVC/TPU
PVC/TPU
PVC/TPU
100/10
100/50
100/90
100/10
100/50
100/90
100/10
100/30
100/50
100/100
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4. Dependence of Youngs modulus on second component content for blends with PVC, processed at 30 rpm.
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Fig. 5. Dependence of Youngs modulus on second component content for blends with PVC, processed at 60 rpm.
Fig. 6. Dependence of Youngs modulus on second component content for blends with PVC, processed at 100 rpm.
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Fig. 7. Dependence of yield stress on second component content for blends with PVC, processed at 30 rpm.
Fig. 8. Dependence of yield stress on second component content for blends with PVC, processed at 60 rpm.
the second component on the blends. At low concentrations, the second component formed the dispersed
phase in a predominantly PVC continuous matrix. As the
mechanical properties of PVC were known to be dependent on the degree of dipolar interaction, any disruption
of this interaction would be harmful to the material property. The addition of DOP or DIDP, because of its
strong interaction with PVC, caused disruptions to the
PVC interchain attraction by acting as specific barriers
between PVC chains. This disruption caused the lowering of the mechanical properties in the blends. Hence,
when the DOP or DIDP content in the blend increased,
more disruption to the PVC interchain interactions
resulted, causing further reduction in the yield stress
value. The action of TPU is different. At low concentrations, the effect is very similar, but the addition of
TPU does not disrupt the PVC interchain contacts with
the same intensity, because its interchain interactions are
much stronger than the PVCTPU interactions. Obviously, the TPU chains form barriers between PVC
chains, but they maintain other kinds of links between
the chains, such as PVCTPU interactions and
entanglements. Hence, as the TPU content in the blend
increased, the level of disruptions to the PVC interchain
interaction was not the same, causing a much smaller
decrease in the modulus and yield stress values than with
DOP or DIDP.
Table 2 shows the influence of the additive content on
the toughness of the systems. At elongation of 300%, the
PVC/TPU toughness is higher than for PVC/DOP and
PVC/DIDP blends. These results confirm the different
kind of behaviour between the two types of systems. The
addition of TPU considerable improves the toughness of
PVC. The structural properties of these systems were
more efficiently maintained with the TPU addition, as
compared to DOP and DIDP. From the data it seems
likely that the toughness property is affected by the
screw speed.
Figs. 1012 present the elastic energy absorbed at
yield stress in the systems. Again, the constructive property of the PVC/TPU blends can be seen. The energy
absorbed up to the yield point by PVC/TPU is much
higher than that observed for the low-molecular-weight
plasticizer systems. Of course, if this energy is much
higher, the system needs a stronger network to produce
the effect. This suggests that this strong network is being
produced by the interactions between PVC/TPU, because
when the TPU content is higher than 50 phr the network
starts to disrupt and then collapses.
4. Conclusions
Fig. 9. Dependence of yield stress on second component content for blends with PVC, processed at 100 rpm.
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Table 2
Toughness of blends at 300%
System
Composition (phr)
Speed (rpm)
Toughness (J/m3)
PVC/DOP
100/90
100/90
100/90
100/90
100/100
100/100
100/100
30
100
30
100
30
60
100
10.7
11.8
15.7
14.1
25.7
42.9
34.3
PVC/DIDP
PVC/TPU
References
[1] Y.V. Ovchinnikov, B.Y. TetelBaum, A.J. Maklakov,
Effects of aging and temperature on changes in the states
of poly(vinylchloride)plasticizer systems, Vysokomol.
Soedin. Ser. A 13 (11) (1971) 24222428.
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