Biopolyurethane/Diethylhexyl Phthalate Hybrid Plasticizer for Flexible Polyvinyl Chloride

Abstract

Worldwide concerns on the endocrine disruption of phthalate derivatives have sparked extensive research on its alternatives. One of the most prominent use of phthalate derivatives are on the plasticization of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Therefore, numerous carboxyl acids and their derivates have been studied as candidates for PVC plasticizer. Elastomeric polyurethanes have been extensively studied as solid-state plasticizer to induce flexibility to otherwise rigid PVC. In this research, bio-based polyurethane (BPU) elastomers and phthalate hybrid plasticizer was used for the fabrication of flexible PVC. Even though half the amount of phthalate plasticizer was replaced with BPU the PVC with the hybrid plasticizer showed strain at break of 320.5 %. The of BPU reduced phthalate use by increasing the flexibility of PVC and reduced the migration of phthalate plasticizer.