Plasticizing Effect of C-(22)-Triesters of Tricarboxylic Acid on Polyvinyl Chloride Films

Novel C-(22)-triesters of tricarboxylic acid (TMabc) were synthesized via transesterification and Diels-Alder (DA) reaction. The structure of these triesters is similar to the dioctyl phthalate (DOP), which has been used as a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plasticizer. By comparative study, the results showed that, the five synthesized compounds had higher heat stability than DOP and four of them had plasticizing effects on PVC films, which can also reduce the usage amount of DOP effectively; X-ray diffraction showed that these four kinds of plasticizer effectively change the crystallization of PVC; mechanical testing and fracture forms indicate that the TM111 and TM122 offered the best plasticization in the PVC films better than or similar to DOP. TM111 offered excellent plasticizing performance, in complete accordance with the test results of dynamic thermal mechanical analysis (DMA). In addition, a plasticizer model for TMabc according to the structure of TMabc was depicted, and as well as a theoretical basis for further development and use of TMabc was provided.