Preparation of epoxidized cardanol butyl ether as a novel renewable plasticizer and its application for poly(vinyl chloride)

A new type of plasticizer, epoxidized cardanol butyl ether ( ECBE ), was synthesized via etherification and epoxidation. Successful synthesis was confirmed from Fourier transform infrared, 1 H NMR and 13 C NMR spectra. The obtained product was evaluated by adding it to poly(vinyl chloride) ( PVC ) incorporated with dioctyl phthalate ( DOP ). Mechanical and thermal properties of PVC blends were studied using tensile testing, thermogravimetric analysis ( TGA ) and dynamic mechanical analysis ( DMA ). Processability, migration and volatility of plasticizing systems were also investigated. Tensile tests found a maximum increase of 17.8% in elongation at break. DMA results indicated that glass transition temperature shifted to lower temperature with a maximum decrease of 5.76 °C. TGA results revealed that PVC blends with higher content of ECBE had higher thermal stability; initial degradation temperature, 50% weight loss temperature and the first peak degradation temperature increased by 15.3, 14.8 and 4.1 °C, respectively. Processing time was extended from 11.56 to 59.94 min. The plasticizing performance of migration and volatility resistance were higher than those of neat DOP .