What Plasticizers Do & How They Affect Properties - Osborne Industries
Plasticizers act like a lubricant among polymer chains to reduce rigidity. Without them, synthetic polymer materials would be too brittle and rigid for any practical purpose. For example, plasticizers give rubber its extensibility. Approximately 90% of all plasticizers are used in polyvinyl chloride, or PVC.
Plasticizer
A plasticizer ( UK: plasticiser) is a substance that is added to a material to make it softer and more flexible, to increase its plasticity, to decrease its viscosity, and/or to decrease friction during its handling in manufacture. Plasticizers are commonly added to polymers such as plastics and rubber, either to facilitate the handling of the
What Are Plasticizers? | Plasticizers in Plastic Manufacturing
Plasticizers work in a similar way, and without them, the material would be hard, rigid, and more difficult to shape. Four Families of Plasticizers. Over 30,000 substances have been tested for use as a polymer plasticizer, though today, only about 50 are available for use. Of these, they are divided into four families:
Chemical Admixtures - Cement
There are five distinct classes of chemical admixtures: air-entraining, water-reducing, retarding, accelerating, and plasticizers (superplasticizers). All other varieties of admixtures fall into the specialty category whose functions include corrosion inhibition, shrinkage reduction, alkali-silica reactivity reduction, workability enhancement, bonding, damp proofing, and coloring.
How Do Plasticizers Work
The mechanism of action of plasticizers is generally considered to be as follows: 1. The van der Waals force of the action mechanism of the plasticizer: Van der Waals force is a weak gravitational force between molecules in the aggregate state of matter. But this kind of force plays a leading role in the morphology and crystallinity of the polymer.
- What is a plasticizer & how does it work?
- A plasticizer is an additive that when added to another material makes that material softer or pliable. Although this definition can be applied to a variety of products, the word “plasticizer” generally refers to materials used in plastics.
- Why are plasticizers important?
- Thanks to their ability to soften plastics, plasticizers enable the creation of more ductile products, reducing the brittleness of the material and enhancing performance in applications requiring greater elasticity. How do plasticizers work?
- What is a plasticizer chemistry?
- Plasticizers are the most used additives in the plastics industry. They are generally available as non-volatile, colorless liquids. They improve the properties of the polymer. With several plasticizer chemistries available in the market choosing the right one can be daunting. In this guide, you will read more about:
- What are plasticizers used in PVC & other plastics?
- Plasticizers used in PVC and other plastics are often based on esters of polycarboxylic acids with linear or branched aliphatic alcohols of moderate chain length. These compounds are selected on the basis of many critieria including low toxicity, compatibility with the host material, nonvolatility, and expense.
- What is a primary plasticizer?
- A primary plasticizer enhances elongation, softness and flexibility of polymer. They are highly compatible with polymers and can be added in large quantities. For example: up to 50% of vinyl gloves are made up of plasticizers, which make the PVC flexible and soft enough to wear.
- Why are plasticizers used in polyvinyl chloride?
- Plasticizers increase the flow and thermoplasticity of a polymer. This is done by decreasing the viscosity of the polymer melt, Tg, Tm, and elastic modulus of the finished product. During this process, the fundamental chemical character of the plasticized material remains unaltered. Plasticizers are most often used in Polyvinyl chloride.
