Effect of polymer structure and the nature and concentration of the plasticizer on the formation of defects in plasticized polyvinylchloride and vinylchloride copolymers

Abstract The formation defects which occur when plasticized materials are heated is a consequence of locked-in rubber-elastic strains and stresses which are retained after the preparation or deformation of materials. Defect formation is substantially reduced when the supermolecular organization of a polymer or copolymer is impaired through an increase in the concentration or through an improvement in the thermodynamic affinity of a plasticizer. The observed effects are explained in terms of the effects of the polymer's supermolecular formations, which are physical nodes of the spatial network, on the locked-in rubber-elastic strain.