Additives impact modifiers

Recycling additives Impact modifiers, stabilizers Used to improve/protect properties of waste plastics during mechanical recycling... 

Because of its unique combination of properties PVC is never handled on its own. Instead a complex formulation incorporating several additives is used. A typical base formulation contains PVC resin, heat stabilizer(s), internal lubri-cant(s), external lubricant(s), processing aid, and additionally, impact modifier, filler(s), pigment, UV stabilizer, as well as primary and secondary plasticizers (see Heat Stabilizers Plasticizers UV Stabilizers). 

Acrylic acid is an important chemical building block used in the manufacture of polyacrylates and commodity acrylates. Commodity acrylates, such as methyl, ethyl, n-butyl, and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, are utilized in various industrial applications, including coatings, adhesives and sealants, textiles and fibers, polymer additives/impact modifiers, and films. Polyacrylates are extensively used as super absorbent polymers. Bio-based acrylic acid can be obtained through the fermentation of carbohydrates to 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HPA), and further dehydration of 3-HPA gives acrylic acid. 3-HPA could also be used as a precursor to other important chemical building blocks, such as PDO, acrylonitrile, and acrylamide. Via another route, glycerol can be chemically converted to acrylic acid, either by dehydration to acrolein followed by oxidation to the final product or in a one-step oxydehydration. 

Polylactic acid, additives, impact modifier, melt strength... 

Noryl. Noryl engineering thermoplastics are polymer blends formed by melt-blending DMPPO and HIPS or other polymers such as nylon with proprietary stabilizers, flame retardants, impact modifiers, and other additives (69). Because the mbber characteristics that are required for optimum performance in DMPPO—polystyrene blends are not the same as for polystyrene alone, most of the HIPS that is used in DMPPO blends is designed specifically for this use (70). Noryl is produced as sheet and for vacuum forming, but by far the greatest use is in pellets for injection mol ding. 

Poly(vinyl chloride). PVC is one of the most important and versatile commodity polymers (Table 4). It is inherently flame retardant and chemically resistant and has found numerous and varied appHcations, principally because of its low price and capacity for being modified. Without modification, processibiUty, heat stabiUty, impact strength, and appearance all are poor. Thermal stabilizers, lubricants, plasticizers, impact modifiers, and other additives transform PVC into a very versatile polymer (257,258). 

There is extensive Hterature on PC blends with ABS, and blends of PC with related materials such as SAN, methacrylate-butadiene—styrene (MBS) emulsion-made core-shell mbber modifiers (297—299), and other impact modifiers. One report reviews some of these approaches and compares PC blends based on emulsion vs bulk ABS (229). In PC—ABS blends, no additional compatihili er is used, because of the near-miscihility of the SAN matrix of ABS and PC. 

By employing additives to improve interfacial adhesion and the cohesive strength of the mbber phase, natural mbber can compete with ethylene—propylene mbbers as an impact modifier for polypropylene. These hard grades, containing between 15 and 25% natural mbber, have the potential for use in the automotive and domestic markets, eg, in bumpers, spoilers, grilles, electrical connectors, and floor tiles. 

In addition to acting as impact modifiers a number of polymeric additives may be considered as processing aids. These have similar chemical constitutions to the impact modifiers and include ABS, MBS, chlorinated polyethylene, acrylate-methacrylate copolymers and EVA-PVC grafts. Such materials are more compatible with the PVC and are primarily included to ensure more uniform flow and hence improve surface finish. They may also increase gelation rates. In the case of the compatible MBS polymers they have the special function already mentioned of balancing the refractive indices of the continuous and disperse phases of impact-modified compound. 

Blending of ABS with an acrylic material such as poly(methyl methacrylate) can in some cases allow a matching of the refractive indices of the rubbery and glassy phases and providing that there is a low level of contaminating material such as soap and an absence of insoluble additives a reasonable transparent ABS-type polymer may be obtained. More sophisticated are the complex terpolymers and blends of the MBS type considered below. Seldom used on their own, they are primarily of use as impact modifiers for unplasticised PVC. 

Commercial grades of polymer may contain, in addition to glass fibre, fire retardants, impact modifiers and particulate reinforcing fillers. Carbon fibre may be used as an alternative to glass fibre. 

In a partially crystalline homopolymer, nylon 6, property enhancement has been achieved by blending with a poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) or its salt form ionomer [24]. Both additives proved to be effective impact modifiers for nylon 6. For the blends of the acid copolymer with nylon 6, maximum impact performance was obtained by addition of about 10 wt% of the modifier and the impact strength was further enhanced by increasing the acrylic acid content from 3.5 to 6%. However, blends prepared using the salt form ionomer (Sur-lyn 9950-Zn salt) instead of the acid, led to the highest impact strength, with the least reduction in tensile... 

PVC on its own is extremely heat- and shear-sensitive and cannot be processed into finished goods, as it starts degrading at temperatures considerably lower than those required to process it. The processing of PVC requires a number of additives. These include heat stabilizers, impact modifiers, processing aids, and lubricants. 

Many additives are used with PVC polymers such as plasticizers, antioxidants, and impact modifiers. Heat stabilizers, which are particularly important with PVC resins, extend the useful life of the finished product. Plastic additives have been reviewed by Ainsworth. 

There are several ways in which the impact properties of plastics can be improved if the material selected does not have sufficient impact strength. One method is by altering the composition of the material so that it is no longer a glassy plastic at the operating temperature of the product (Chapter 6). In the case of PVC this is done by the addition of an impact modifier which can be a compatible plastic such as an acrylic or a nitrile rubber. The addition of such a material lowers the glass transition temperature and the material becomes a rubbery viscoelastic plastic with much improved impact properties. This is one of the methods in which PVC materials are made to exhibit superior impact properties. 

This development was technologically successful and E-plastomers are widely recognized to be very effective impact modifiers for iPP. In initial experiments, binary blends of iPP were compounded with EPDM, E-plastomers, or SEES as the elastomeric phase. In comparison to the known modifiers, such as EPDM or SEES, the binary blends with E-plastomers have properties which strongly depend on the amount and the identity of the E-plastomer. Thus, the addition of... 

Additives may be monomeric, oligomeric or high polymeric (typically impact modifiers and processing aids). They may be liquid-like or high-melting and therefore show very different viscosity compared to the polymer melt in which they are to be dispersed. 

Typical additive packages for engineering thermoplastics have been described by Titzschkau [9], such as processing aids for PA, PP, or PET/PBT, three-component additive packages for polyamides and polyesters (nucleating agent, lubricant and process heat stabiliser) and coated copper stabilisers for polyamides. Additive packages or combinations of up to five or more additives are quite common. A typical white window PVC profile formulation comprises an acrylic impact modifier, TiC>2, CaCC>3, calcium stearate, a... 

Worldwide consumption of performance additives (excluding plasticisers) grew from just over 2.7 mt in 1996 to 3.6 mt in 2001. Flame retardants make up 31 % of the volume and stabilisers, impact modifiers and lubricants each account for around 16-17%. Flame retardant markets (construction, E E devices, automotive) are headed for unprecedented development and change, being threatened by environmental, health... 

Various additives show considerable extraction resistance, such as impact modifiers (polyacrylates and polyblends PVC/EVA, PVC/ABS, etc.), highpolymeric processing aids (PMMA-based), elastomers as high-MW plasticisers, reactive flame retardants (e.g. tetrabromobisphenol-A, tetrabromophthalic anhydride, tetrabromophthalate diol, dibromostyrene). Direct measurement of additives by UV and IR spectroscopy of moulded films is particularly useful in analysing for additives that are difficult to extract, although in such cases the calibration of standards may present a problem and interferences from other additives are possible. 

On the whole, GPEC remains a technique in search for polymer/additive applications with real added value [835]. Practical applications of GPEC may be found in the analysis of polymer blends [836], laminates and packaging materials. For example, the technique can be used for determination of the impact modifier content in PS packaging material, which contains a soluble transparent rubber for transparent applications,... 

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