1 Complex engineering problem

Polymer Structures & Synthesis (PPE-201L)

Complex Engineering Problem to replace PVC sheets with

pilings

Submitted to:
“Dr. Yasir Qayyum Gill”
Submitted by:
“Group#5”
Asghar ansari (2020-PE-34)
Subhan Jahanzaib (2020-PE-20)
Ali Sajjad (2020-PE-22)
Hassan Waseem (2020-PE-19)

Department of Polymer and Process Engineering

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Contents
Complex Engineering Problem.........................................................................................................................................2
Problem statement:.........................................................................................................................................................2
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................................................2
Materials:.........................................................................................................................................................................2
Machines:.........................................................................................................................................................................3
Manufacturing process:...................................................................................................................................................3
Properties of PVC sheets:.................................................................................................................................................4
Adhesive:..........................................................................................................................................................................4
Limitation:........................................................................................................................................................................4
Solution:...........................................................................................................................................................................4
Literature review:.............................................................................................................................................................4
Corrosion inhibitors:....................................................................................................................................................4
UV stabilizers:...............................................................................................................................................................5
Discussion:.......................................................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion:.......................................................................................................................................................................5
References:......................................................................................................................................................................6

Complex Engineering Problem

Problem statement:
To replace PVC sheets with PVC pilings for aesthetic purpose and effective cost.

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Introduction:
PVC pilings are used in houses to prevent high exposure of sunlight through window panels and
for greenhouse effect or winterize your windows. They are also on walls to prevent destruction of
wall painting and to enhance the appearance of the walls. They are also used to make chemical
storage tanks, oil tanks and photographic development instruments. Although, PVC pilings are
very useful for us in daily life. However, their cost is very high. So, we choose to solve the
problem by introducing PVC sheets in place of pipes because sheets are cost effective than PVC
pilings and also give aesthetic look on walls and windows too. But in using PVC sheets there is a
limitation that the chemicals in adhesive used to stick the sheets leach out after some years and
that looks very messy. So, we choose to find the solution of this problem to make PVC sheets
more usable for long period and attractive.

Fig 1: PVC sheets on doors and windows Fig 2: PVC sheets on walls

Materials:
The materials used for the manufacturing of PVC sheets are;

• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) raw material

• Additives

Machines:
the operating machinery used for the manufacturing of PVC sheets are;

• A high-speed mixer
• Roller machine
• Extruder

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• Calendar

Manufacturing process:
Firstly, raw material of PVC and certain additives to enhance chemical and mechanical
characteristics is added to a high-speed mixer in which PVC material along with additives is
converted into melt state. After that, melted polymer is passed through calendar to make PVC
transparent film of desired thickness without flow marks and air entrapped to increase the quality
of product and to make film pores free. Then chilling the plastic film with cold water, removing
water from the cooled plastic film, heating the plastic film to dry out any residual water and
controlling the plastic film again to a temperature from 30 C to 85 C. then applying pressure
range from 1kg/cm2 8 kg/cm2 on the plastic film(sheet) while winding it into a roll. Plastic
film(sheet) produced with this method has good transparency and smooth surface without mark
flow and air pit after passing through extruder.

Fig 3: rolling of plastic films Fig 4: transparent PVC sheets

Properties of PVC sheets:

• PVC sheets has excellent chemical resistance, thereby prevent walls and window panels
from oxidative degradation.
• They give aesthetic appearance to the walls and windows because of their clarity and
transparency.

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• Better heat resistance so will not melt or degrade when exposed to sunlight.

Adhesive:
Polywood is a white water-based adhesive which is used for various applications. One such
application is pasting PVC sheets to walls to hide any flaws like holes, molds, seepage damage
etc. polywood gives excellent adhesion to PVC sheets also, whereas normal white adhesives are
unable to do so.
Limitation:
The only limitation in using polywood adhesive to stick PVC sheets is that at high temperatures,
chemicals inside the polywood leach out and gives yellow color to PVC sheets which looks
messy. Also, polywood is water based, so it has low tendency to withstand high temperatures
especially when exposed to sunlight for window panels. Because the water will evaporate
causing other chemicals in its structure to leach out and thus resulting in fade yellow color to
impart to PVC sheets.
Solution:
We choose to add some UV inhibitor, corrosion inhibitor or some chemicals to polywood during
its manufacturing that improves its oxidative degradation resistance and also structural tendency
to prevent leaching of chemicals even at high temperatures.

Literature review:
Corrosion inhibitors:
A corrosion inhibitor is a chemical compound that, when added to a liquid or gas, decreases the
corrosion rate of a material, typically a metal or alloy that comes in contact with the fluid. The
effectiveness of corrosion depends upon the fluid composition, quantity of water, and flow
regime. Corrosion inhibitors are common in industry, and also found in over the counter
products, typically in spray form in combination with a lubricant and sometime penetrating oil.
They may be added to water or adhesive to prevent leaching of chemicals from them. Corrosion
inhibitors are added to the fluids that surround the material or object. Related inhibitors of
oxygen are hexamine, phenylenediamine, dimethylethanolamine and their derivatives.

UV stabilizers:
UV induced polymer photodegradation can be inhibited or delated by introducing stabilizers into
the polymer matrix or into a coating applied to the surface of the component. Stabilizer
concentrations employed are typically 0.05%-2% by mass and their presence can significantly
lengthen the lifetime of a polymer product. To be effective, stabilizers need to be photostable,
soluble or dispersible in the polymer matrix, nonvolatile and non-leaching and compatible with
polymer and additives. Combination of stabilizers can also be used to protect against more than
one mechanism or to provide synergistic protection primary methods of UV stabilization involve:
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• Absorbing or blocking UV radiation before it can reach the chromophore in polymer

matrix.
• Deactivating or quenching the excited species generated by UV radiation and converting
them into stable, non-reactive forms
• Scavenging reactive free radicals generated by UV radiation and converting them into
stable, non-reactive forms.
Carbon black absorbs strongly in the UV and visible regions and also may have radical
scavenging and excited state quenching capabilities as well, due to its aromatic ring character.

Discussion:
On the basis of above literature reviews and experimentation, we can observe that polywood can
be combined with carbon black and hexamine to enhance the UV and corrosion resistance
against the sunlight exposure and environment, thereby facilitating the PVC sheets to be more
useful for long term without fading and for decoration purposes.

Conclusion:
This experiment solution will increase the marketing of PVC sheets and make it best competitor
against PVC pilings which are very costly.

References:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US6649105B2/en (Method of manufacturing flexible
transparent polyvinyl chloride film without facial flow marks and pits)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/ultraviolet-stabilizing-agent (Ultraviolet
Stabilizing Agent) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki (Corrosion inhibitor)
https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/polywood ( Polywood adhesive used to stick PVC sheets
with walls)