Epoxidized Esters of Palm Kernel Oil as an Effective Plasticizer for PVC: A Study of Mechanical Properties and Effect of Processing Conditions

Abstract

Abstract One of the most commonly used vegetable oil plasticizer in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO). On the contrary, epoxidized palm oil is among the least used, because of its low compatibility with PVC. This work reports that epoxidized and esterified palm kernel oil (EEPKO) has the potential to be used as a plasticizer for PVC. In this study, it was found that a maximum of 65 phr of EEPKO could be incorporated within the PVC resin. In addition, subjecting this EEPKO plasticized PVC (p-PVC) at a processing temperature of 200 °C resulted in much reduced plasticizer loss. EEPKO lowers the glass transition temperature of PVC from 79 °C to −23 °C. The optimum mechanical properties, namely tensile strength, elongation at break and hardness, were obtained for p-PVC processed at 200 °C.