Mathematical modeling for the mechanical properties of poly(vinylchloride) ternary composites

Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is one of the major thermoplastics and many scientific and technological efforts have been performed by the incorporation of different additives. The main purpose of this work is the design, fabrication, and experimentally characterization of PVC ternary composites. Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) core-shell rubber particles and nano-CaCO3 particles were employed to modify hard PVC simultaneously. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and mechanical test were used to evaluate the properties of the composites. Mathematical models for the mechanical properties of PVC ternary composites were investigated by using a method combining design of experiments (DOE), Kriging surrogate model, and data analysis to investigate the various weight ratios addition of nano-CaCO3 and ABS on the mechanical properties of compounded PVC and predict mechanical properties associated to the studied composites. Benefiting from the proposed strategy, more reliable results and accurate predictions of mechanical properties of the nanocomposites can be extracted from Kriging surrogate model. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2016. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers