Effect of incorporation of peanut and sesame oils and their epoxides on the structure of Poly Vinyl Chloride

Abstract

Epoxidised soybean oil (ESO) is widely used as a plasticizer for Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC). The interactions of the sesame oil and the peanut oil and their epoxides with PVC were investigated in this study. The epoxidation of the oils were carried out in situ using the peracetic acid method. Epoxidation was confirmed using H' NMR andl3C NMR spectra. The interaction of oils and their epoxides with PVC were evaluated using FT-IR (Fourier Transform Infrared) spectra. Soybean oil was treated as the benchmark. According to the FT-IR analysis, the oils and their epoxy derivatives were found to interact with PVC molecules. These interactions solubilize the PVC in the plasticisers and hence make them compatible with PVC. It is also shown that these molecules break the polymer-polymer interactions and mask the interactive sites of the PVC polymers. In comparison to soybean oil, molecular interactions of sesame oil with PVC is better. However, peanut oil and soybean oil show better molecular interactions below 10 phr level, while sesame oil shows maximum interactions around 50 phr.