Study of the effect of additives on biodegradation of PVC materials

Modern operating conditions of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) materials impose increased requirements for the additives used. Intensification of processing and expansion of PVC application areas, as well as providing a wide variety of its performance characteristics, are associated to a large extent with the successful solution of the problem of creating effective plasticizers. Therefore, when developing formulations of PVC plasticates, it is important to obtain and select plasticizers that meet modern high requirements for operation and environmental safety. One of the modern approaches to creating materials that can be destroyed in natural conditions is based on the use of additives that increase the ability of polymer materials to biodegrade. This paper presents the results of developing a PVC composition with increased biodegradation. For this purpose, a mixture of plasticizers was used: dibutoxyethyl phthalate (DBOEP) with a degree of ethoxylation of 1.5 and dibutoxyethyl adipate (DBOEA) with a degree of ethoxylation of 1.5. The results of testing samples of obtained PVC compositions for biodegradation are presented. It is shown that partial replacement of a phthalate plasticizer with a non-toxic biodegradable dibutoxyethyl adipate makes it possible to obtain PVC compositions with increased biodegradation, while maintaining excellent performance properties.