Obtaining new additives for polyvinyl chloride compositions

Introduction. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is the world's leading synthetic polymer in industrial use. Products based on PVC have firmly taken on the world market, and currently there is no highly developed country that is able to avoid its production and consumption. The high demand for thermoplastics is primarily due to its unique properties such as durability, resistance to climatic conditions, low flammability, good barrier properties, economy, environmental friendliness and versatility. The complex of technological and service properties of soft PVC, in addition to other additives, is mainly provided by plasticizers, the content of which can reach 50% or more. It is the efficiency of the plasticizing that has a decisive impact on the characteristics in the resulting materials and products. One of the most widely used classes of compounds in the plasticization of PVC are phthalic acid esters, in particular, dibutyl phthalate (DBP), di-(2-ethylhexyl)-phthalate (dioctyl phthalate, DOP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP) and diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP). Phthalates have found the greatest use as plasticizers due to their properties: good compatibility with PVC, low migration from plastic compound, minimal interaction with the polymer at room temperature, good frost resistance, high electrical insulating properties, availability, manufacturability and low cost. Methods and materials. The paper presents methods for the obtaining of novel symmetrical and asymmetric phthalate plasticizers: dibenzoxyethyl phthalates, benzylbenzoxyethyl phthalates, phenoxyethylbenzoxyethyl phthalates, ethoxyoctylbenzoxyethyl phthalates – by catalytic esterification of phthalic anhydride with oxyethylated phenylcarbinols, phenols and 2-ethylhexanols. The conditions for the synthesis of target products with the maximum yield were selected. The physicochemical properties of the obtained compounds were studied. The obtained experimental data were used to identify promising novel plasticizers of the phthalate type by cluster analysis. Cluster analysis for decision making is the most effective, as it is designed to combine some samples into classes (clusters) in such a way that the most similar in properties get into one cluster, but at the same time, samples of different clusters differ from each other as much as possible. Clustering carried out in the program Statistica 10. Results and discussion. According to the data obtained, it is found that benzylbenzoxyethyl phthalates and ethoxyoctylbenzoxyethyl phthalates have the best characteristics in terms of plasticizing ability. We study the influence of the selected plasticizers on the physical and mechanical characteristics of PVC compositions The effectiveness of compounds in the PVC composition is evaluated in terms of “elongation stress” and “breaking stress”. The test results of the samples are compared with the indicators of PVC compounds containing DBP. Conclusion. The use of the developed additives contributes to the production of PVC compounds with improved physical and mechanical characteristics.