Poly(vinyl chloride) Nanocomposites: Overview on Mechanical and Thermal Properties

Besides polyethylene and polystyrene, poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is one of today’s most common plastics. This plastic has a large number of applications due to its wide range of properties such as good mechanical properties, chemical and photo stability and also special characteristics suitable for thermal processing. Because virgin PVC is unstable in the presence of heat, light and oxygen, it needs a host of additives to make it usable. Different ways have been used to improve the thermal and mechanical properties of PVC such as adding other polymers or additives for making PVC compounds. In PVC compounds, lead, cadmium and organotins are usually used as stabilizers, phthalates as softeners and other chemicals as additives. The solid additives are usually added first. Common additives used in the PVC compounds are generally hazardous materials, therefore incorporation of high performance non-toxic nano-scale inorganic fillers into poly(vinyl chloride) formulations has drawn the attention of many researchers in the last decades. The paper provides an overview on the mechanical and thermal properties of poly(vinyl chloride) nanocomposites.