Investigation of polyvinyl chloride and thermoplastic polyurethane waste blend miscibility

Abstract

In this study the miscibility of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and poly-ε-caprolactone based thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) waste blends were investigated by dilute solution viscometry. The miscibility criteria α, Δb, ΔB, and Δ[η] were used to assess the degree of miscibility of polymers in tetrahydrofuran solution. Also, to assess the miscibility and microstructure of PVC/TPU blends obtained by solution casting have been characterized by X-ray diffraction. The tensile strength and deformability properties varying on the blend composition were determined. It was found that PVC and TPU are partially miscible, their blend is amorphous and show two-phase structure. TPU changes the mechanical behaviour of PVC the blends. Increase of TPU content causes PVC elongation at break increase and tensile strength decreases.