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Preventing thermal degradation of PVC insulation by mixtures of cross‐linking agents and antioxidants
Author(s) -
Brostow Witold,
Hnatchuk Nathalie,
Kim Taehwan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.48816
Subject(s) - plasticizer , materials science , ultimate tensile strength , composite material , vinyl chloride , elongation , thermal stability , absorption of water , polyvinyl chloride , scanning electron microscope , tensile testing , thermal insulation , degradation (telecommunications) , polymer , chemical engineering , copolymer , telecommunications , layer (electronics) , computer science , engineering
ABSTRACT Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is widely used—in spite of HCl formed from it at elevated temperatures. PVC wire and cable insulation has poor thermal stability, causing the plasticizer to separate from the PVC chains and produce an oily residue, lowering the tensile elongation at break and thus increasing brittleness. One uses cross‐linking agents and antioxidants, as well as mixtures of both, to improve the thermal stability of the plasticizer and tensile properties of PVC after thermal exposure. We performed tensile tests, tribological tests, profilometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and water absorption determination before and after thermal exposure at 136 °C for 1 week. After adding the agents, elongation at break increased by 10 to 20% while the wear rate and water absorption were lower than for the control sample. Less voids are seen in the SEM images after adding these two kinds of agents. The thermal resistance of the PVC cable insulation is best enhanced by combinations of cross‐linking agents and antioxidants. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137 , 48816.