Poly(hexane succinate) plasticizer designed for poly(vinyl chloride) with a high efficiency, nontoxicity, and improved migration resistance

Poly(hexane succinate) (PHS) was designed as an alternative type of polyester plasticizer for the modification of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). The plasticizing effect of PHS was studied and compared with the traditional dioctyl phthalate (DOP) plasticizer. The results show that the PVC plasticized by PHS had the lowest tensile strength of 15.3 MPa and the highest elongation at break of 105.1% when 35 phr PHS was added. It also exhibited a lower glass-transition temperature than PVC plasticized by DOP (PVC–DOP); this could be explained by the improvement of free volume for the amorphous part of PVC enhanced by high-molecular-weight PHS. The migration-resistant properties of PVC–PHS was greatly superior to those of PVC–DOP. All of these results illustrate that PHS had a higher plasticizing efficiency than DOP for PVC. PHS could be used as an alternative plasticizer to remove the potential health risks of phthalates migrating out during applications. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46388.