A Novel One-Step Reactive Extrusion Process for High-Performance Rigid Crosslinked PVC Composite Fabrication Using Triazine Crosslinking Agent@Melamine-Formaldehyde Microcapsules

Abstract

In this work, we propose, for the first time, a simple, fast, and efficient strategy to fabricate high-performance rigid crosslinked PVC composites by continuous extrusion. This strategy improves the poor processing fluidity of composites and solves the impossibility of conducting extrusion in one step via using microcapsule-type crosslinking agents prepared by in situ polymerization to co-extrude with PVC blends. The results demonstrate that the PVC/microcapsule composites were successfully prepared. Within the studied parameters, the properties of crosslinked PVC gradually increased with the addition of microcapsules, and its Vicat softening temperature increased from 79.3 °C to 86.2 °C compared with pure PVC. This study shows the possibility for the industrial scale-up of the extrusion process for rigid crosslinked PVC.

Synthesis of tunable thickness-to-diameter ratio microcapsules via a diffusion-controlled process for temperature-responsive release

“…The above characterization indicates that the utilization of DB@PU successfully controls the crosslinking reaction of PVC composites. Combined with our research on DB@MF, 35 controlling the crosslinking reaction of PVC is crucial to realize one-step extrusion of crosslinked PVC composites. Therefore, we infer that DB@PU with controlled release properties satisfies the process requirements of crosslinked PVC extrusion, and we will further study the extrusion process of PVC composites containing DB@PU.…”

“…In our preliminary exploration, we designed and prepared microcapsulebased crosslinking agents (DB@MF) and applied them to the extrusion process, relying on shear force to release the crosslinking agents and thereby produce crosslinked PVC. 35 Although this method significantly improved the mechanical properties of PVC to a certain extent, its limitation was the inability to achieve precise and controllable crosslinking. Consequently, we propose using the method presented in this work to synthesize temperature-responsive and microcapsulebased crosslinking agents.…”