| Abstract: | Infrared studies of the poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)/di-n-butylphthalate (DBP) system are reported. Spectra of DBP in different solvents seem to be indicative of the ability of DBP to interact with PVC chains in the same way as with polyesters and of competitive interactions between DBP molecules and DBP with PVC. Plots of the width at half-height of the carbonyl stretching vibration, measured at 25 and at ?180°C, as a function of composition, show a sudden change of slope at about 60% PVC concentration by weight, indicating that above this polymer composition interaction between DBP and PVC dominates that between DBP molecules. This change corresponds to a “singularity” observed in the dependence of the glass transition temperature on composition. |
