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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mater.
Sec. Polymeric and Composite Materials
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmats.2024.1406469
This article is part of the Research Topic Bio-based Polymer Composites View all 3 articles

Synthesis and performance evaluation of low-molecular-weight biobased polyester rubber as a novel eco-friendly polymeric plasticizer for polyvinyl chloride

Provisionally accepted
Qinan Zhang Qinan Zhang 1Jiahui Sun Jiahui Sun 2,3Zehao Yao Zehao Yao 1Xuejia Ding Xuejia Ding 2,3*Zhao Wang Zhao Wang 1,4*Liqun Zhang Liqun Zhang 1,4
  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China
  • 2 Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials of Natural Macromolecules, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
  • 3 Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China
  • 4 Institute of Emergent Elastomers, School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangdong, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Developing eco-friendly polymeric plasticizers with excellent migration resistance is one of the research hotspots in the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) industry. A low-molecular-weight biobased polyester rubber (LMW-BPR) was synthesized from five biobased polyester monomers in a 100-L reactor and evaluated as a potential ecofriendly polymeric plasticizer for PVC. The obtained LMW-BPR is an amorphous polyester material with a low glass transition temperature of -48 o C and a molecular weight of 22 kg/mol, which is lower than that of existing polyester rubber but higher than those of most polyester plasticizer commodities. Plasticized PVC composites with a total plasticizer content of 50 phr were prepared by using the mixture of LMW-BPR and di-isononyl cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH, an eco-friendly monomeric plasticizer commodity) as the plasticizer. The migration resistance test showed that the migration loss of plasticizer in plasticized PVC composite decreased significantly with the increase of LMW-BPR content. When the content of LMW-BPR reaches 30 phr, the plasticized PVC composites are almost nonmigratory. In addition, compared with PVC composite plasticized by pure DINCH, co-plasticized PVC composites containing LMW-BPR exhibit higher tensile strength and thermal stability, and their flexibility, low-temperature resistance and biocompatibility are also maintained at a similar level to the former. Overall, LMW-BPR is an effective eco-friendly polymeric plasticizer for PVC and also sustainable and scalable, thus it is worthy of wide application.

    Keywords: Polyester plasticizer, Polyvinyl Chloride, biobased polyester rubber, Migration resistance, Low-temperature resistance

    Received: 25 Mar 2024; Accepted: 04 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Sun, Yao, Ding, Wang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Xuejia Ding, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials of Natural Macromolecules, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
    Zhao Wang, State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.