Investigation of thermal and mechanical properties of new nitrogen-rich organic based heat stabilizers for poly (vinyl chloride)

Urea cyanurate, as a new nitrogen-rich organic-based heat stabilizer, for the enhancement to thermal properties of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is prepared via the simple precipitation method, in this study. Characterization, thermal and mechanical properties of the stabilized PVC were examined by means of fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DTG), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements, discoloration test, congo red test and the weight-loss method, thermal aging test, and tensile analysis. Results showed that the thermal stability of PVC is improved after the addition of urea cyanurate in PVC formulation and weight loss related to HCl releasing in the normal PVC processing temperature (180 & DEG;C) is less than 1%. Enhancement of the thermal properties and stability time of the PVC lead to decreased degradation tendency. Oven-aging test result showed that the color change during degradation process of PVC samples improved by adding the urea cyanurate. The tensile strength of stabilized samples were about 42%, higher as compared to the pure PVC. The optimum and best results for improving the thermal and mechanical properties of PVC were obtained by incorporating the 3 wt % of the urea cyanurate.