Improving the Long-Term Performance of Poly(Vinyl Chloride)

Since neat PVC is rigid, in all applications a plasticizer is added. Migration of the plasticizer results in brittleness of flexible PVC and environmental pollution. We have used three types of cross-linking agent blended with commercial PVC, plasticizer and thermal stabilizer. Heat treatments at 100С, 121С and 136C were performed. We made tensile tests, dynamic friction tests, wear rate determination, scratch resistance determination, water absorption tests and SEM analysis – to make selection of compositions suitable for sufficient cross-linking for long term applications.