Compatibility and biodegradability studies of linseed oil epoxy and PVC blends

With the aim to utilize linseed oil epoxy – a product from sustainable resource for the processing of hard polymers, blends of linseed oil epoxy (LOE) with polyvinylchloride (PVC) were prepared for the first time by solution blending of the requisite amounts of the two components in the weight ratios LOE/PVC- 85/15, 65/35, 55/45, 45/55, 35/65, and 15/85 through solution method by mixing in tetrahydrofuran (THF). The miscibility of the two components in solution phase was investigated by relative viscosity, reduced viscosity and density measurements. The blend with 85 wt% of LOE yielded stiff and flexible films with maximum stress of 33 MPa and 216% elongation at break. Biodegradability of these blends has been studied by soil burial test, enzymatic degradation, and hydrolytic degradation in phosphate buffer. The blend LOE/PVC 85/15 showed the highest biodegradation of 68 wt% in 6 months in the soil burial test. The degradability was found to increase with the increase in LOE content in the blend compositions. The potential applications for such sustainable resource based blend films include packaging materials and biodegradable plastic sheets which can be formed into products such as bio-bags.