POLYVINYL CHLORIDE(PVC)

I
NTRODUCTI
ON

Polyvi
nylchl
ori
deistheworld'
sthir
d-mostwi
del
ypr
oducedsynt
heti
c
polymerofplast
ic(af
terpol
yethy
leneandpol
ypr
opy
lene)
.About40mil
l
ion
tonsofPVCar eproducedeachyear.
PVCcomesi nt wobasi cfor ms: ri
gidandf l
exi
bl e.Therigi
df orm ofPVCi s
usedi nconst ructionf orpipesandi npr ofil
eappl i
cati
onssuchasdoor sand
windows.I tisal sousedi nmaki ngplast i
cbottles,non-foodpackagi ng,
food-cov eringsheet sandpl asti
ccar ds( suchasbankormember ship
cards).Itcanbemadesof terandmor ef lexi
blebyt headditionof
plasti
cizer s,themostwi delyusedbei ngpht halates.Inthi
sf orm,itisalso
usedi npl umbi ng,electri
cal cableinsulation,i
mi tati
onleather,fl
ooring,
signage, inflatablepr oducts, andmanyappl i
cationswher eitreplaces
rubber.Wi thcot tonorl i
nen, itisusedi nt heproduct i
onofcanv as.Pur e
polyvi
ny lchl orideisawhi te,britt
lesolid.Itisi
nsol ublei
nal coholbut
sli
ghtlysol ublei nt etr
ahydr ofuran.
DI
SCOVERY
PVCwassy nthesizedin1872byGer manchemi stEugenBaumannaf ter
extendedinv est i
gati
onandexper imentati
on.Thepol ymerappear edasa
whitesolidinsi deaf l
askofv i
nylchlori
dethathadbeenl eftonashel f
shelter
edf rom sunlightforfourweeks.I nthe20t hcentur
y,amet hodt o
plasti
cizePVCbybl endi
ngitwi t
hv ari
ousaddi t
ives,
incl
udingt heuseof
dibutylphthalatehadbeeni ntroduced.Ther esultwasmor eflexibleand
mor eeasilypr ocessedmat eri
althatsoonachi evedwidespread
commer ci
al use.
PRODUCTI
ON
Pol
yvi
nyl
chlor
ideispr
oducedbypol
ymer
izat
ionoft
hev
iny
l chl
ori
de
monomer(VCM),asshown.
About80%ofpr oducti
oninv ol
vessuspensi
onpolymeri
zat
ion.Emulsion
polymerizat
ionaccountsf orabout12%,andbul
kpolymeri
zati
onaccount s
for8%.Suspensi onpoly
mer izat
ionaff
ordspart
icl
eswit
hav er
age
diametersof100–180μm, whereasemulsi
onpolymer
izat
iongivesmuch
smal l
erpart
icl
esofav eragesizearound0.2μm.VCM andwat erare
i
nt r
oducedintothe
react oral
ongwi thapol ymerizati
oninit
iat
orandot heraddi t
ives.The
cont entsofther eacti
onv esselarepressuri
zedandcont inuallymixedto
mai ntainthesuspensi onandensur eauni f
orm parti
clesizeoft hePVC
resin.Ther eacti
oni sexothermicandt husrequirescool
ing.Ast hevol
ume
i
sr educeddur i
ngt hereacti
on( PVCisdensert hanVCM) , wateris
cont i
nuall
yaddedt othemi xturetomai nt
ainthesuspensi on.
Thepol y merizati
onofVCM i sst artedbycompoundscal l
edini t
iat orsthat
aremi xedi ntothedr opl
ets.Thesecompoundsbr eakdownt ost ar tt
he
radical chainr eacti
on.Typicaliniti
atorsincl
udedioctanoy lperoxi deand
dicetyl peroxy di
carbonate,bothofwhi chhavefragil
eoxy gen-oxy genbonds.
Somei nit
iatorsstartthereacti
onr apidlybutdecayqui ckl
y,andot her
i
nitiator shav etheopposi t
eef f
ect .Acombi nati
onoft wodi ff
er enti nit
iat
ors
i
sof t
enusedt ogiveauni for
mr ateofpol ymer
izati
on.Af t
ert hepol ymer
hasgr ownbyabout10t i
mes, t
heshor tpolymerprecipit
atesi nsidet he
dropletofVCM, andpolymer i
zationcont i
nueswi t
hthepr ecipitated,
solv
ent-swoll
enpar
ti
cles.Theweightaveragemolecularweight
sof
commer cial
poly
mersr angefr
om 100,000to200,
000, andthenumber
averagemolecul
arweightrangef
rom 45,000to64,000.
Oncet
hereact
ionhasrunit
scourse,
theresul
ti
ngPVCsl ur
ryi
sdegassed
andst
ri
ppedtoremoveexcessVCM, whi
chisrecy
cled.Thepol
ymeristhen
passedt hroughacent r
ifugetoremov ewater.Theslurr
yisfurtherdri
edina
hotairbed, andther esulti
ngpowderi ssi
evedbef orest
orageor
pal
letizat
ion.Nor mally,t
her esul
ti
ngPVChasaVCM cont entoflessthan1
partpermi ll
ion.Otherproduct i
onprocesses,suchasmi cro-
suspension
polymer i
zationandemul sionpoly
merizati
on,producePVCwi thsmal l
er
parti
clesizes( 10μm v s.120–150μm f orsuspensionPVC)wi thsli
ghtl
y
di
fferentproper t
iesandwi thsomewhatdiffer
entsetsofapplicati
ons.
PVCmaybemanuf actur
edf r
om ei
thernapht
haorethyl
enef
eedst
ock.
However
,inChina,wheretherear
esubstanti
alst
ocks,
coali
sthemain
st
art
ingmater
ialforthecarbi
deprocess.
Theacetyl
enegeneratedisthenconvert
edtoVCM whi
chusual
l
yinvol
ves
t
heuseofamer cury-basedcatal
yst.Theprocessi
sal
sov
eryener
gy
i
ntensi
veandgeneratesconsider
abl
ewast e.

MANUFACTURE
Thepoly
mer sar
eli
nearandarest
rong.Themonomersaremai
nlyar
ranged
head-
to-
tai
l
,meaningthatther
ear
echlori
desonal
ter
nat
ingcar
boncenter
s.
PVChasmai nl
yanatacti
c
stereochemist
rywhichmeanst hattherel
ati
vester
eochemist
ryoft
he
chlori
decentersarerandom.Somedegr eeofsyndiot
acti
ci
tyoft
hechai
n
givesaf ewpercentcryst
all
i
nit
ythatis
i
nfl
uenti
alonthepropert
iesofthemat er
ial
.About57%oft
hemassofPVC
i
schlori
ne.Thepresenceofchl
oridegroupsgivest
hepol
ymerv
ery
di
ff
erentproper
ti
esfrom thest
ructur
al
rel
atedmateri
alpol
yethyl
ene.Thedensi
tyi
sal
sohi
ghert
hanf
ort
hese
str
uctur
all
yrel
atedplast
ics.
PRODUCERS
Abouthalfoftheworld'sPVCproducti
oncapacityi
sinChina,
despit
ethe
cl
osureofmanyChi nesePVCpl antsduetoissuescomplyi
ngwith
envi
ronmentalregul
ationsandpoorcapaci
tiesofscal
e.Theothermajor
suppli
ersarebasedinTaiwan,NorthAmericaandWesternEurope
ADDI
TIVES
Theproductoft hepolymerizationprocessi sunmodi f
iedPVC.Bef orePVC
canbemadei ntofini
shedpr oducts,i
tal waysr equiresconv ersi
onintoa
compoundbyt heincorpor
ationofaddi tives( butnotnecessar il
yallofthe
fol
lowing)suchasheatst abili
zer,uvstabi l
i
zerpl astici
zer ,
pr ocessi
ngai ds,
i
mpactmodi f
iers,
thermalmodi fi
ers,
fil
lers,retardants, bi
ocides, bl
owing
agentsandsmokesuppr essor s,and,optionally,
pigment s.
PROPERTI
ES
PVCi sat
her
moplast
icpoly
mer.I
tspr
oper
ti
esar
eusual
l
ycat
egor
ized
basedonr
igi
dandfl
exibl
ePVCs.
1.MECHANI
CAL
PVChashi ghhar dnessandmechani cal
proper
ti
es.Themechanical
proper
tiesenhancewi ththemolecul
arweighti
ncreasi
ngbutdecreasewit
h
thetemperatur
ei ncreasi
ng.Themechanicalpr
operti
esofr
igi
dPVCar e
verygood;theelasti
cmodul uscanreach1500–3,
000MPa.Thesof tPVC
(fl
exi
blePVC)elast i
climi
tis1.5–15MPa.
2.THERMAL
Theheatstabil
it
yofrawstruct
urePVCi sver
ypoor.So,toensurethe
stabi
l
ityoftheproduct
,vari
ousstabi
l
izersar
eused.Tradit
ional
product
PVChasmaxi mum operat
ingtemperat
ureof60degCwhi lethemelti
ng
temperatur
eisintherangeof100degCto260degC.

3.ELECTRICAL
PVCi sapolymerwit
hgoodi nsul
ati
onpropert
ies,butbecauseofi
tshi
gher
polarnat
uretheel
ectr
icali
nsulat
ingpr
opertyi
si nf
eri
ortonon-pol
ar
polymerssuchaspolyet
hyl
eneandpolypropyl
ene.

4.CHEMI CAL
PVCsarechemi cal
lyi
nertt
osal
t,
aci
ds,bases,
fat
sandal
cohol
and
eff
ect
ivelyactasacorr
osioni
nhi
bit
or.That’
swhyiti
sext
ensi
vel
yut
il
izedi
n
sewerpipingsyst
ems.
Andmanymor e…

APPLICATI
ONS
1.
PIPES
Roughl
yhal
foftheworl
d'
sPVCr esi
nmanuf act
uredannual
lyi
susedf
or
pr
oduci
ngpipesformuni
cipal
andindust
ri
alappli
cat
ions.

2.ELECTRI CCABLES
PVCi scommonl yusedastheinsul
ati
ononel ect
ri
ccabl
es;
PVCusedf or
thi
spur poseneedst obeplast
ici
zed.Fl
exibl
ePVCcoatedwireandcabl
e
forel
ect r
icalusehastradi
ti
onall
ybeenstabi
li
zedwithl
ead,
buttheseare
beingreplacedwithcalci
um-zi
ncbasedsy st
ems.

3.CONSTRUCTIONS
PVCisacommon, st
rongbutli
ght
wei
ghtpl
asti
cusedinconst
ruct
ion.Iti
s
madesof t
erandmoref l
exi
blebyt
headdi
ti
onofplast
ici
zer
s.I
fno
pl
asti
cizer
sareadded,iti
sknownasuPVC(unpl
asti
ci
zedpoly
viny
l chl
ori
de)
orri
gidPVC.

4.CLOTHING
PVCfabri
ciswat
err
esi
stant
,usedforit
sweather-r
esist
antqual
it
iesin
coat
s,ski
i
ngequi
pment
,shoes,j
ackets,apr
ons,patchesandsportsbags.

6.
CHLORI NATEDCHLORI NE
PVCcanbeusef ul
lymodif
iedbychlor
inat
ion,whichincr
easesitschlori
ne
contentt
oorabov e67%.Chlori
nat
edpolyvi
nylchlor
ide,(
CPVC),asi ti
s
cal
led,i
sproducedbychlor
inati
onofaqueoussol ut
ionofsuspensionPVC
part
icl
esfoll
owedbyexposur eUVli
ghtini
ti
atesthefree-
radi
calchl
or i
nati
on
7.
FLOORING
Fl
exibl
ePVCfl
oori
ngisinexpensiveandusedinavar
iet
yofbui
l
dings,
i
ncludi
nghomes,
hospit
als,off
ices,andschool
s.

8.
.OTHERUSES
PVChasbeenusedf orahostofconsumerpr oducts.Oneofi t
sear l
iest
mass- marketconsumerappl i
cationswasv i
ny l
recordproducti
on.Mor e
recentexampl esincludewallcovering,greenhouses,homepl aygrounds,
foam andot hertoys,custom truckt oppers,cei
li
ngtil
esandot herkindsof
i
nteriorcl
addingpi pi
ngi scheapert hanmet alsusedinmusi calinstr
ument
making; i
tisthereforeacommonal ternati
vewhenmaki ngi nst
rument s,
oftenforlei
sureorf orrareri
nstrument ssuchast hecontr
abassf lut
e.An
i
nstr
umentt hati
sal
mostexcl
usi
vel
ybui
ltf
rom PVCtubei
sthesl
apor
gan,
apercussi
veorganwhi
chispl
ayedbysl
appi
ngtheopentubeswi
thaf
li
p-
f
loporsimil
ar.
Source:Pol
yviny
lchlor
ide-Wikipedi
aPoly
vinylChl
ori
de(PVC)Pl
ast
ic:
Uses,Pr
oper
ti
es,Benefi
ts&Toxicit
y(speci
alchem.com)
Pol
yvi
nyl
Chl
ori
de-anov
erv
iew|
Sci
enceDi
rectTopi
cs