Preparation and Performance of Bio-Based Polyol Ester from One-Pot Synthesis of Castor Oil as Nontoxic Poly(Vinyl Chloride) Plasticizer

Dioctyl phthalate (DEHP), as the most used commercial plasticizer, has been restricted in many polymer products due to its reproductive toxicity to human body. In this study, castor oil based polyol ester(CPE) was synthesized via a simple and efficient way and used as a sustainable plasticizer in poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) films to replace toxic DEHP. The chemical structure of the obtained bio-based plasticizer was characterized. The oral toxicity test indicated that CPE had toxic doses of over 3000 mg/kg. Tg of PVC films decreased from 87.4 to 19.1 °C, which is lower than PVC-DEHP systems. The tensile strength and elongation at break of PVC films plasticized with 50 phr CPE is 12.10 MPa and 450.15% respectively, which shows more flexible than PVC/50 prh DEHP samples.The DMA and tensile tests results indicated that the plasctizing effect of CPE was more excellent than DEHP. DEHP can be completely replaced with CPE in flexible PVC products.