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PVC PLasticisers

Plasticiser is added to PVC to improve its mechanical properties. Common plasticisers like DOP are polar and compatible with PVC, but oil is cheaper. An independent study tested adding naphthenic oil to partially replace DOP in PVC compounds. The results showed the mechanical and electrical properties were similar and in some cases better when partially replacing DOP with naphthenic oil. Therefore, naphthenic oil is a viable lower-cost alternative to partially replace DOP as a secondary plasticiser in PVC.

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Krishna Prasad
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223 views

PVC PLasticisers

Plasticiser is added to PVC to improve its mechanical properties. Common plasticisers like DOP are polar and compatible with PVC, but oil is cheaper. An independent study tested adding naphthenic oil to partially replace DOP in PVC compounds. The results showed the mechanical and electrical properties were similar and in some cases better when partially replacing DOP with naphthenic oil. Therefore, naphthenic oil is a viable lower-cost alternative to partially replace DOP as a secondary plasticiser in PVC.

Uploaded by

Krishna Prasad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Plasticiser is added to PVC to give the right mechanical properties, for example tensile

strength, elongation, etc. The basic premise for a successful plasticiser is that it is
compatible with the PVC resin and the other additives.

No oil is sufficiently compatible with PVC to act as a primary plasticiser. The molecules
in mineral oil are not sufficiently polar to dissolve polyvinyl chloride. The plasticisers
normally used these days are DOP (di-octylphthalate) and other similar phthalates. DOP
is strongly polar and therefore highly compatible with PVC.

But there is good scope for using oil to replace some of the primary plasticiser. The
advantage is simple: oil is cheaper than DOP. To underline the point, the price of DOP
has risen faster than the price of oil in the last few years. An oil that is to be compatible
with a PVC/DOP-mixture must have good solvency properties.

Chlorinated paraffins on the way out


In many countries chlorinated paraffins have been used as secondary plasticisers, mainly to reduce the cost of
raw materials. But in an increasing number of countries this option is no longer available following environmental
legislation and new regulations. Attitudes are changing and people are becoming more wary of these substances.
For manufacturers who must review their formulations as a result of these changes, naphthenic mineral oils
could be an alternative to chlorinated paraffins. The technical and economic advantages are the same and Nynas
naphthenic oils fulfil strict environmental demands. For example, they are non-labelled according to EU
standards.
There are certain limitations when it comes to using naphthenic oils in PVC. They cannot be used in plastics that
will come into contact with foodstuffs or medicine. While Nynas does manufacture naphthenic technical white
oils, approved for indirect contact with foodstuffs, their high degree of refining makes them less polar and
thereby less compatible with PVC and DOP.
One application that we have studied and found particularly interesting is insulating material for electric cables.
In this context electrical properties are an additional important factor. One of the most common areas of use for
naphthenic oils has for many years been as insulating oil in transformers and even if there is no direct link, we
do know that the properties of Nynas oils as good electrical insulators are very well documented.

Independent study
How then does a naphthenic oil function in practice in PVC? Costs, environmental considerations, and other
factors are of little significance if the product does not have the right properties.
Nynas R&D department, in co-operation with the local Nynas sales office in Poland, therefore commissioned an
independent research study from the Institute of Plastics and Paint Industry in Gliwice. The aim was to find out
what effect adding naphthenic oil has on the properties of a PVC plastic.
Two different types of PVC plastic were manufactured for the study. Each of these was made in two versions, one
using exclusively DOP as plasticiser and one in which part of the plasticiser was made up of one of the
naphthenic process oils, Nytex 820 or Nyflex 820.
The first type of plastic was an insulating plastic for use around electric cables and the other was for sheathing
(the protective cover of the individual wires in a cable). All the plastics were tested for a number of mechanical
and electrical properties. The results of the study can be seen from the tables.

In favour of naphthenic oil

The results did not differ markedly between the different types of plastic. As far as mechanical properties are
concerned there is no great difference between plastics that contain only DOP as a plasticiser and those that also
contain naphthenic oil. In the cases where the values differ, the figures come out somewhat better for the
plastics that contain oil.
Ageing at 80C affected the sheathing plastic with oil somewhat less than the corresponding plastic with only
DOP, while it was insulating plastic with only DOP that was least affected by the same treatment. The
measurements of electrical properties showed that the plastic with oil was affected less by heating than the
plastic without oil.
The differences in properties between PVC plastics containing oil as a secondary plasticiser and PVC plastics with
only DOP as a plasticiser were very small in our experiments. In several instances the plastics with oil had in fact
better properties. In other words in this type of plastic we have not found anything that argues against the use
of naphthenic oil as a complement to DOP.
It should therefore be of interest to manufacturers of PVC plastic to take a closer look at the scope for reducing
the cost of raw materials for their products.
N
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Properties

Requirements

Tensile strength, MPa

min 10

Reference
*
NYFLEX 820**

Elongation at break, %

min 150

22.8

Thermal resistance,
Temperature of ageing, C
Time of ageing, h

80 PLUSMINUS 2
168

Tensile strength after thermal


3.1 ageing, MPa

min 10

Elongation after thermal


3.2 ageing, %

min 150

Change of tensile strength, %


Change of elongation at break,
3.3 %

max 20
max 20

3.4 Mass loss, mg/cm2

max 20

Volume resistivity, .. cm
- at 20C
- at 70C

min 5 x 10
min 10

Density, g/cm3

Hardness, ShA

Compounds

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