Abstract
A new strategy involving the internal plasticization of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is successfully achieved by copolymerization of vinyl chloride (VC) and commercial available monomers such as n-butyl acrylate (n-BA) and oligo(ethylene oxide) methyl ether acrylate (OEOA). To evaluate the effect on glass transition temperatures (Tg) of the resulting PVC-co-POEOA, PVC-co-PBA and PVC-co-PBA-co-POEOA copolymers, solvent, initiator, polymerization temperature and VC/n-BA/OEOA monomers ratios were systematically investigated. These internally plasticized PVC-based copolymers were fully characterized by 1H NMR, FTIR, SEC, DMTA, TGA and DSC to determine the composition, molecular weight, dispersity, and thermal properties. The experimental Tg values of the PVC-co-PBA-co-POEOA copolymers were even lower than those predicted by the Fox equation (TgFOX) indicating effective plasticization of PVC and reached values as low as −57 °C. Under optimized conditions, it was possible to afford different degrees of internal plasticization just by varying the initial VC/n-BA/OEOA monomer ratio. Most significantly, the plasticizing moieties of internally plasticized PVC copolymers are truly covalently bonded to the polymer, resulting in the absence of any migration upon extraction under conditions where commonly used plasticizers are readily extractable.
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