Floor vinyls/polymer

Vinylidene polymers Vinylidine chloride Vinyl interlayer Vinylite flooring Vinyl ketal polymers Vinyllithium [917-57-7]... 

Raw Materials. PVC is inherently a hard and brittle material and very sensitive to heat it thus must be modified with a variety of plasticizers, stabilizers, and other processing aids to form heat-stable flexible or semiflexible products or with lesser amounts of these processing aids for the manufacture of rigid products (see Vinyl polymers, vinyl chloride polymers). Plasticizer levels used to produce the desired softness and flexibihty in a finished product vary between 25 parts per hundred (pph) parts of PVC for flooring products to about 80—100 pph for apparel products (245). Numerous plasticizers (qv) are commercially available for PVC, although dioctyl phthalate (DOP) is by far the most widely used in industrial appHcations due to its excellent properties and low cost. For example, phosphates provide improved flame resistance, adipate esters enhance low temperature flexibihty, polymeric plasticizers such as glycol adipates and azelates improve the migration resistance, and phthalate esters provide compatibiUty and flexibihty (245). 

Poly(vinyl chloride-i o-vinyl acetate) [9003-22-9] has found appHcation in flooring, phonograph records, protective coatings, fibers, and some films and sheeting. Because of their low viscosity and good processabihty, such copolymers constitute the bulk of the vinyl tile market. The total production of PVC copolymers in 1989 was 113,500 t (73) (see Vinyl polymers). 

Flooring -magnesium compoundsm [MAGNESIUMCOMPOUNDS] (Vol 15) -magnesiumcompoundsm [MAGNESIUMCOMPOUNDS] (Vol 15) -PVC use [VINYL POLYMERS - VINYL CHLORIDE POLYMERS] (Vol 24) -SBRuse [STYRENE-BUTADIENE RUBBER] (Vol 22)... 

PS is a vinyl polymer and styrene is used as a monomer in the production of polystyrene plastics and resins. PS is mainly used in construction in the form of high performance expanded polystyrene foam (EPS), used for insulation for floors, walls and roofs. 

Vinyl chloride polymers are produced in two main types, homopolymers and copolymers, usually with vinyl acetate. Both types can be plasticized by a wide variety of plasticizers (qv), usually esters. Rigid or unplasticized PVC is used extensively for pipe. The plasticized material is used largely in floor coverings. The homopolymer itself is inherently fire-resistant, but addition of plasticizers, unless they are especially fire-resistant, considerably reduces this characteristic (see Elame retardants). 

In addition to homopolymers of varying molecular and particle structure, copolymers are also available commercially in which vinyl chloride is the principal monomer. Comonomers used eommercially include vinyl acetate, vinylidene chloride, propylene, acrylonitrile, vinyl isobutyl ether, and maleic, fumaric and acrylic esters. Of these the first three only are of importance to the plastics industry. The main function of introducing comonomer is to reduce the regularity of the polymer structure and thus lower the interchain forces. The polymers may therefore be proeessed at much lower temperatures and are useful in the manufacture of gramophone records and flooring compositions. 

Emulsion polymerization is widely used to produce polymers in the form of emulsions, such as paints and floor polishes. It also used to polymerize many water insoluble vinyl monomers, such as styrene and vinyl chloride. In emulsion polymerization, an agent emulsifies the monomers. Emulsifying agents should have a finite solubility. They are either ionic, as in the case of alkylbenzene sulfonates, or nonionic, like polyvinyl alcohol. 

In order to improve toughness many rubbers and other soft polymers may be used as additives to modify the compound. Some copolymers based on vinyl chloride are available of which the most important are the vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate materials used in gramophone records, flooring compositions and surface coatings. 

The United States produces more than 7 billion kilograms of vinyl chloride annually. Most is converted to the polymer poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), which is used to make piping, siding, gutters, floor tiles, clothing, and toys. Vinyl chloride is made in a two-step process. The balanced overall equation is as follows ... 

Traditionally, UV curable polymers have been utilized as coatings for wood and vinyl floors, but their applications have increased dramatically over the last twenty years to encompass many diverse areas, including optical fiber coatings (7), adhesives (2), disc replications (3-5), and microelectronics (6). This widespread use of UV cross-linked systems is attributed to their rapid, energy efficient curing and their solvent free, one piece formulations. Typically, UV curable systems require only a small fraction of the power normally utilized in thermally cured systems and their solvent free nature offers an environmentally safer alternative. 

Ethynes are industrially used as a starting material for polymers, e.g. vinyl flooring, plastic piping. Teflon and acrylics. Polymers are large molecules, which are prepared hy linking many small monomers. Polyvinyl chloride, also commonly known as PVC, is a polymer produced from the polymerization of vinyl chloride. 

These polymers commonly are described as PVC plastics or less specifically as vinyl. They are materials that may be either flexible or rigid according to what they are mixed with, and they are used in the manufacture of many familiar articles such as plastic curtains, rainwear, floor tile, synthetic leather goods, upholstery, table mats, phonograph records, insulation, plastic pipes, tubing, and packaging materials. 

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