Flexible and strong ternary blends of poly(vinyl chloride), poly(butylene adipate) and nanoparticle-plasticizers

Multiple property enhancement was achieved for ternary blends of PVC, poly(butylene adipate) (PBA) plasticizer and PBA-grafted nanofillers as compared to ternary blends with untreated nanofillers. The blends with surface modified halloysite, kaolin or silicon dioxide nanofillers all exhibited higher stress at break and higher strain at break as compared to the corresponding composites with untreated nanoparticles. The strain at break was similar or improved compared to binary PVC/PBA blends. Most significant improvement was observed for the films containing surface treated halloysite nanofillers. Over 100% increase in stress at break and strain at break was obtained when compared to the corresponding nanocomposite containing untreated halloysite fillers. In addition to tensile testing the prepared films were characterized by DSC, SEM, TGA and FTIR imaging to evaluate the miscibility and thermal properties. Interestingly the FTIR imaging analysis revealed that the surface grafting of halloysite resulted not only in improved dispersion of halloysite filler, but also in more homogenous distribution of PBA plasticizer in the blends. During aging in contact with aqueous solution the films containing kaolin exhibited the smallest weight loss. This is explained by the plate like structure of kaolin which prevents the migration of PBA molecules.

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► Ternary blends of PVC, poly(butylene adipate) (PBA) and nanofillers were prepared.
► PBA plasticizer was grafted on surface of nanofillers.
► Simultaneous up to 100% increase in stress and strain at break was obtained.