Relations entre les caracteristiques physico-chimiques des charges et les proprietes mecaniques des polymeres (PVC) plastifies et charges

Some rheological and mechanical properties of polyvinyl chloride filled with up to 80 phr CaCO₃ have been evaluated with a view to rationalizing results in terms of polymer/filler interfacial interactions. These interactions have been characterized by inverse chromatography using a series of acid-base vapour probes selected from literature classifications. Both pure and industrially pretreated CaCO₃ samples were employed; in addition, one of the pure materials was surface-modified by exposure to selected vapours in a microwave plasma apparatus. Though the data are not adequate to develop exact correlations linking interaction parameters and the physical properties of the filled systems, it is clear that favourable interaction (wetting, adhesion) states at the polymer-filler interface promote ease of dispersion of solids in the molten polymer, enhance mechanical properties (such as elongation at break and the yield stress in the stress/strain curve of the materials) and reduce the rates at which these properties deteriorate when compounds are exposed to weathering. This preliminary work therefore confirms the apparent importance of interfacial effects to property development in filled polymers, suggests the usefulness of acid-base concepts as an index of these effects, and shows inverse chromatography data to be convenient for their quantification. Plasma treatment appears to be a particularly flexible approach to the tailoring of diverse surface properties in filler particles. Detailed development of the various concepts is indicated.