Abstrato

Bio- Based Co- Plasticizer for PVC in Addition with Epoxidised Soyabean Oil to Replace Phthalates

 Bhakti Mehta, Mukesh Kathalewar, and Jitesh Mantri

Studies showed that phthalate plasticizers are carciogenic. The concerns raised about toxicity led to a large demand of producing non- toxic and bio- based plasticizers. Currently, ESBO can only replace 30% DOP in the PVC formulations. We investigated benzyl ester (BE) synthesized by dehydrated castor oil fatty acid and benzyl alcohol in presence of catalyst at 170-180oC as plasticizer for poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) to replace commercially used combination of plasticizer (di- octyl phthalate (DOP) and epoxidized soyabean oil (ESBO). The structure of the BE was confirmed by 1H NMR, FTIR, acid value, hydroxyl value. The modified plasticizer was used as plasticizer in PVC in different proportions for the replacement of DOP in samples prepared from PVC- DOP- ESBO combination, keeping ESBO proportion constant in all samples. The incorporation of BE displayed good plasticizing performance and also resulted in, reduction in viscosity and viscosity pick- up, improved mechanical, exudation, thermal degradation and chemical resistance properties (upto wt. 65%). The presence of BE showed reduction in whiteness index due to presence of conjugated double bonds in the structure. No variation in DSC and shore hardness properties was observed when compared to those of DOP plasticized sheets which can contribute to the conclusion that BE can be used as a co- plasticizer in PVC along with ESBO upto wt. 65% to replace DOP