Simultaneous improvement of the plasticization, mechanical and migration resistance properties of PVC materials by grafting ricinoleic acid-derived phosphate ester

PVC materials grafted with ricinoleic acid-derived phosphate ester (PVC-AR-g, g = 1 ~ 4, where ricinoleic acid-derived phosphate ester grafts are abbreviated as AR) were prepared via a green and effective synthetic method. These materials were developed with the aim of overcoming the toxicity limits and environmental pollution issues caused by toxic dioctyl phthalate, which is traditionally used for plasticizing PVC materials. In this study, 3-aminopropyltri ethoxysilane (APTES) and AR, which contains phosphate ester groups, hydroxyl groups, linear alkyl groups, highly flexible long carbon chains and siloxane were introduced into the chains of PVC to efficiently plasticize PVC materials. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to investigate the mechanical and plasticization properties, respectively, of the plasticized PVC films. Meanwhile, the leaching properties were also examined. The good plasticization behavior of the PVC-AR-g materials was attributed to the numerous hydroxyl, ester, linear siloxane and highly flexible long carbon chain present simultaneously in the branched segments, which formed strong hydrogen bonding and dipole–dipole interactions with the PVC main chains. Moreover, the PVC-AR-g materials showed improved thermal stability and outstanding anti-migration ability because of the covalent bonds between the PVC and graft intermediate.