Poly(ethylene glycol)–polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane as a novel plasticizer and thermal stabilizer for poly(vinyl chloride) nanocomposites

Abstract

The plasticizing and thermostabilizing effect of poly(ethylene glycol)–polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (PEG‐POSS) on poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is discussed thoroughly in this work. As PEG‐POSS content increases, PVC becomes more flexible and the decomposition temperature of PVC increases slightly. Meanwhile, the temperature of maximum HCl emission is elevated from 265.3 °C in neat PVC to 285.7 °C in PVC nanocomposites, with the peak intensity of HCl emission decreased by 30.8%, and a new lower intensity of HCl emission peak appearing at much higher temperature (around 370 °C), which is in accordance with the maximum degradation temperature of PEG‐POSS. Thereby, a possible dehydrochlorination mechanism is suggested according to the fact that the electron donor effect of ether groups would stabilize the CCl bonds by means of more electron cloud stacked in those bonds, which agrees with Fourier transform infrared and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy experiments in terms of hydrogen bonds. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry

Effect of Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes Nanoparticles on Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Poly(vinyl chloride) Composite Materials

“…A general conclusion, based on literature studies and our own results, may be formulated that an addition of POSS cages, independently on functional groups, leads to typical behavior of plasticized PVC, that is, lowering of stiffness and of glass transition temperature.…”

“…First, by the POSS contains of 5 and 10 wt%, lowering of the glass transition may be clearly seen, indicating the tendency of plasticization of PVC by the POSS addition, most probably as a result of the integration of relatively long octyl groups of POSS among the PVC macromolecules. A decrease in T g was observed by Yang et al for the temperature determined by means DSC measurement, but it has to be stressed that in this case, the poly(ethylene glycol)–polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (PEG‐POSS) in high concentration was applied.…”

“…As nanofiller, the polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane containing methacryl and octyl groups (MeOctPOSS) on silsesquioxane cage with chemical formula C 76 H 160 O 28 Processing PVC in a form of dry blend and PVC mixtures with 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, and 10 wt% of MeOctPOSS, called PVC/1POSS, PVC/2.5POSS, PVC/5POSS, and PVC/10POSS, respectively, were prepared by melt mixing processing.…”

“…The PVC composites with chlorobenzylethylisobutyl‐POSS show reduced storage modulus, loss modulus, and δ peak values, in comparison to the plasticized PVC compound, indicating its behavior as a plasticizer . A novel plasticizer and thermal stabilizer for PVC, based on poly(ethylene glycol)‐polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane was proposed by Yang et al .…”

“…The research on POSS to modify PVC is described in the literature in limited range. So far, there had been only a few reports on the PVC/POSS composites [22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. A distinct plasticizing effect on the PVC matrix has been shown, especially when POSS contains methacryl [22,23] or chloropropyl groups [24].…”