Evaluation of the effect of boron waste sludge and clay on the diffusion of plasticizer to different environments from PVC composite films

Poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) is a rigid polymer that can also be used in flexible applications by the addition of plasticizers. When plasticized PVC (p-PVC) film is heated, plasticizer evaporates from the surface of the film and it degrades by the loss of hydrogen chloride (HCl) gas. Plasticizers are not chemically bound to the polymers, easily diffuse to the contact media during its life-time and contaminate the environments which are in contact. The aim of this study is to reduce the diffusion of plasticizer by means of boron waste sludge (BWS) and clay filler (CF, kaolinite) to assess the effects of BWS and CF on the diffusion of plasticizer. Plastisols were prepared by mixing of plasticizer, heat stabilizer, BWS and CF into PVC resin and were cured in plastigel films. Thus obtained plastigel films were subjected to heat treatment in an oven at 100, 130 and 150°C. During heat treatment diffusion of plasticizers from p-PVC films into air was studied. In addition, migration of plasticizers into hexane was compared with the migration of plasticizers into air during the heat treatment. For this purpose, the effects of BWS and CF on the migration of the plasticizer to different environments were examined. Diffusion coefficient of plasticizer was evaluated according to the Fick's law and to determine related activation energies according to the Arrhenius relation. Oxidation index (OI) values were determined by using FTIR spectroscopy. The addition of boron waste was reduced the diffusion of the plasticizer into air and increased the activation energy value. Its determined that, the mass loss of the films decreased with increasing amount of BWS and CF.