Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane as a novel plasticizer for poly(vinyl chloride)

This study focuses on investigating the use of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) to plasticize poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). Conventional organic plasticizers for PVC, such as dioctyl phthalate (DOP), are somewhat volatile, leading to plasticizer loss and unwanted deterioration of the material properties over time. Previous experimental results indicate that methacryl-POSS, which is much less volatile due to its hybrid organic–inorganic structure, has the ability to plasticize PVC. Methacryl-POSS is miscible in the PVC only up to 15 wt%, thereby limiting its suitability as a plasticizer. However, through the use of ternary compositions it is possible to increase the proportion of methacryl-POSS in PVC substantially. The Tg of appropriately formulated ternary PVC/POSS/DOP compounds can be reduced to near room temperature, and these materials exhibit desirable ductile behavior. Binary (PVC/DOP) and ternary (PVC/POSS/DOP) compounds formulated to the same Tg values showed considerably different mechanical properties. Such findings reveal the possibility of using POSS to engineer the mechanical properties of plasticized PVC.