The effect of modified pluronic on the distribution of fillers in the polyvinyl chloride matrix

Pluronic was modified by using maleic anhydride (MA) and was characterized by means of FTIR and 1 H NMR. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was blended with different contents of modified pluronic (MPL). After 20% by weight MPL, no significant change was noticed in either the electrical or the mechanical properties. The addition of 10 wt % MPL to PVC loaded with different contents of titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) and sodium bentonite was chosen to act as a dispersing agent for the two types of fillers. This result was obtained through the measurements of permittivity ε′ and dielectric loss ε″ at the frequency range (10 2 −10 5 Hz) in addition to the electrical conductivity (σ). According to Arrhenius equation, the activation related to both conductivity E σ and relaxation time E τ in addition to the experimental σ o were found to confirm the validity of compensation law for the semiconducting PVC system. The increase of ε′ and ε″ by increasing filler content in the presence of 10% MPL in comparison with those before the addition of such concentration of MPL indicates a homogenous distribution of filler in the PVC matrix. This result finds further justification through the mechanical measurements and the scanning electron micrographs. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010