Thermal conductivity, diffusivity and heat capacity of plasticized polyvinyl chloride

Simple formalisms for thermal conductivity lambda, thermal diffusivity D and specific heat C-p of both linear and cross-linked amorphous polymers has been presented. These relations explain successfully the dependence of these properties on temperature and amount of plasticizer. Present Study reveals that the santicizer-160 forms cross-linkage among the linear chains of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The structural transition at T-g, the anti-plasticization effect below T-g and plasticization effect above T-g, are clearly reflected in the trends of these properties. The calculated values of all the three properties for PVC plasticized with different amount of plasticizer (Santicizer-160: 10 phr, 20 phr and 30 phr) are in excellent agreement with the experimental values over a wide range of temperature, which includes glassy, leathery and rubbery regions. The maximum deviation in experimental and calculated values is less than 5% for all these properties.