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Development of High-Efficiency Hybrid Plasticized Polyvinyl Chloride Paste Resin and Its Derived High-Performance Foam
Original title: Development of High‐Efficiency Hybrid Plasticized Polyvinyl Chloride Paste Resin and Its Derived High‐Performance Foam
Summary
Scientists tweaked the recipe for PVC plastic (commonly used in flooring, foam padding, and other products) by building a softening ingredient directly into the plastic's molecular structure, instead of just mixing in separate chemical plasticizers. This matters because traditional plasticizers can leach out of PVC products over time and contaminate homes, food, or bodies—so a version that needs fewer added plasticizers, or none migrating out, could mean safer, more durable plastic foam products made with less energy too.
ABSTRACT Due to the fine particle sizes and interparticle porous structures, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) paste resin produced by microsuspension polymerization is favorable for forming plastisol. However, it requires high processing temperatures or large amounts of external plasticizers to achieve sufficient plasticization, which causes high energy consumption or the risk of plasticizers' migration. In this work, a hybrid plasticization strategy was demonstrated by introducing butyl acrylate (BA) as an internal plasticizing comonomer into PVC paste resin prepared by microsuspension polymerization. A series of poly(vinyl chloride‐butyl acrylate) (PVC‐BA) copolymer paste resins with controlled BA contents were synthesized, and the effects of BA incorporation on chemical structure, particle morphology, thermal property, plasticization behavior, and rheological performance were systematically examined. It could be found that BA copolymerization resulted in not only the reduction in glass transition temperature from 77.8°C of PVC paste resin to 71.6°C of the copolymer, but also an increased specific surface area of 40 m 2 /g. These two structure features had a positive synergistic effect on the practical processing. Plastisol with an efficient plasticizer uptake was achieved at low fusion temperature of 140°C. The modified plastisol exhibited enhanced rheological stability across a broad processing range of 100°C–150°C. Furthermore, PVC foams prepared from the copolymer paste resins displayed refined cellular structures and enhanced mechanical performance, including high ductility and improved elastic recovery. As a result, this work provides an effective strategy for developing high‐value PVC products by microsuspension polymerization, and demonstrates its application in producing energy‐efficient, high‐performance PVC foam.