Poly(ethylene glycol)–polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane as a novel plasticizer and thermal stabilizer for poly(vinyl chloride) nanocomposites

The plasticizing and thermostabilizing effect of poly(ethylene glycol)–polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (PEG-POSS) on poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is discussed thoroughly in this work. As PEG-POSS content increases, PVC becomes more flexible and the decomposition temperature of PVC increases slightly. Meanwhile, the temperature of maximum HCl emission is elevated from 265.3 °C in neat PVC to 285.7 °C in PVC nanocomposites, with the peak intensity of HCl emission decreased by 30.8%, and a new lower intensity of HCl emission peak appearing at much higher temperature (around 370 °C), which is in accordance with the maximum degradation temperature of PEG-POSS. Thereby, a possible dehydrochlorination mechanism is suggested according to the fact that the electron donor effect of ether groups would stabilize the C  Cl bonds by means of more electron cloud stacked in those bonds, which agrees with Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy experiments in terms of hydrogen bonds. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry