Ultrafine full-vulcanized powdered rubbers/PVC compounds with higher toughness and higher heat resistance

A new type of rigid PVC compound with higher toughness and higher heat resistance was prepared by using a new type of PVC modifier, ultrafine full-vulcanized powdered rubber (UFPR). The UFPRs used in this paper were butadiene nitrile UFPR-1 (NBR-UFPR-1) with particle size of about 150 nm and butadiene nitrile UFPR-2 (NBR-UFPR-2) with particle size of about 90 nm. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) showed that glass transition temperature (Tg) of PVC in compounds increased from 77.52 °C of neat PVC to 82.37 and 85.67 °C, while the notched impact strengths increased from 3.1 kJ/m2 of neat PVC to 5.2, 5.5 kJ/m2, respectively. It can be found that both Tg and toughness of PVC have been improved simultaneously, and the smaller the particle size of NBR-UFPRs, the higher the Tg and the impact strength. The property could be attributed to larger interface and more interfacial interaction between NBR-UFPRs and PVC matrix. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that NBR-UFPRs could be well dispersed in PVC matrix.