What Additives Are Added to PVC

Bisley InternationalFAQs

PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) is one of the most synthesized plastic materials used in packaging, construction, and automotives. In the production process of PVC products, some additives are added to manipulate the physical or mechanical properties of the final products and improve processing capabilities.

Additives are vital in modifying processing properties, product character, and quality. They are of many types, including the following:

Waxes

Waxes are used during the PVC production and fabrication to externally and internally lubricate, improve processability, and enhance the smoothness of the final product. The most common PVC waxes are paraffin wax, polyethylene, Fischer-Tropsch wax, and chloropolyethylene.

Stabilizers

PVC processing often requires heating. However, heating can result in the degradation of PVC and create hydrochloric acid; thus, to prevent potential PVC degradation, stabilizers are added to PVC. These heat stabilizers generally work by neutralizing the hydrochloric acid and preventing oxidation of the PVC.

Stabilizing agents such as tin stabilizers also work excellently to help impart heat stability, retain color to rigid and plasticized PVC, and make the finished product resistant to heat, oxygen, and UV light.

Plasticizers

Since PVC is a hard substance, plasticizer additives are added to make PVC products more flexible and boost their elasticity without changing their shape. They are used to lower the attraction between polymer chains to help increase flexibility.

Flexible PVC products like pipes have a wide range of applications in the cables, architecture, and medical & health care sectors. These plasticizers include Diisononyl phthalate (DINP), Dioctyl adipate (DOA), Trioctyl trimellitate (TOTM), Diisodecyl adipate (DIDA), Dioctyl sebacate (DOS), and epoxy monoesters.

Flame Retardants

As the name suggests, heat retardants are a popular kind of PVC additive used to slow and stop flames and smoke. They impart fire retardant properties to plastic products. By improving the fire retardancy of PVC, flame retardants also help safeguard the structural integrity of polyvinyl chloride material. Common types of flame additives include decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE), ammonium polyphosphate phase II (APP-II), zinc borate, aluminum trihydrate, and antimony trioxide.

Pigments

Pigments are added to PVC materials to alter their original color, which is white. Material suppliers add this type of additive to PVC products to impart a desired color, gloss and/or other functional characteristic. This allows them to differentiate PVC compounds for various uses by color. Examples of pigments are titanium dioxide, zinc oxide (ZnO), naphthol red 210, and zinc sulfide (ZnS).

PVC additives are used in almost every application and industry. They are commonly used in the plastics and rubber industries, flooring, plumbing pipes, tents, siding, trim, and roofing applications.

Shop PVC Additives at Bisley

Bisley International is one of the leading suppliers of PVC additives in the United States. We offer a wide variety of PVC additives, including waxes, tin stabilizers, flame retardants, impact modifiers, fillers, and other materials and polymers.

Moreover, our additives are available in a comprehensive range of grades, sizing, density, and treatment characteristics customized to specific application requirements. Contact our sales department to learn more about our PVC additives.

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