Pvc Production and Its Future Use
Introduction
Poly vinyl chloride commonly known as PVC or Vinyl is the 3rd largest selling commodity plastic in the world today. Although early accidental discoveries of PVC were found in the 1800’s it wasn’t until the 1920’s when an industrial scientist named Waldo Semon at BFGoodrich commercialized the material for use as a water resistant coating for fabrics. During the 1950’s the refining methods enhanced durability introducing its use in the building and the construction industry. Water pipes used in the transportation of water to homes and factories began to be made out of PVC due to the materials resistance to chemicals and corrosion. Today PVC is used in a wide variety of applications and industries some examples are IT (communication and electronics), transport (food packaging), textiles and construction.
Atomic structure and Properties
Below is the chemical formula for PVC that consists of Carbon, Hydrogen and Chloride.
PVC is a thermoplastic polymer meaning that is recyclable, the addition of the chlorine atom allow for easier identification during automated sorting systems and with today’s society being environmentally concise these become important properties. Other important properties of PVC that make it a desirable polymer are its resistance to chemicals and corrosion, good electrical and thermal insulator, fire retardant (burns slowly) and has relatively good strength. Undesirable properties of PVC is that it softens at a relatively low temperature (54~80C) and it has a high density when compared to other polymers.
PVC Production
PVC is produced in a variety of techniques that includes suspension, emulsion, micro suspension and bulk using addition polymerization. Suspension polymerization is the most common PVC process. The production of PVC first starts with chlorine being extracted from salt by the process of electrolysis. The chlorine is then reacted with ethylene to produce ethylene dichloride (EDC) molecule. This molecule is
Poly vinyl chloride commonly known as PVC or Vinyl is the 3rd largest selling commodity plastic in the world today. Although early accidental discoveries of PVC were found in the 1800’s it wasn’t until the 1920’s when an industrial scientist named Waldo Semon at BFGoodrich commercialized the material for use as a water resistant coating for fabrics. During the 1950’s the refining methods enhanced durability introducing its use in the building and the construction industry. Water pipes used in the transportation of water to homes and factories began to be made out of PVC due to the materials resistance to chemicals and corrosion. Today PVC is used in a wide variety of applications and industries some examples are IT (communication and electronics), transport (food packaging), textiles and construction.
Atomic structure and Properties
Below is the chemical formula for PVC that consists of Carbon, Hydrogen and Chloride.
PVC is a thermoplastic polymer meaning that is recyclable, the addition of the chlorine atom allow for easier identification during automated sorting systems and with today’s society being environmentally concise these become important properties. Other important properties of PVC that make it a desirable polymer are its resistance to chemicals and corrosion, good electrical and thermal insulator, fire retardant (burns slowly) and has relatively good strength. Undesirable properties of PVC is that it softens at a relatively low temperature (54~80C) and it has a high density when compared to other polymers.
PVC Production
PVC is produced in a variety of techniques that includes suspension, emulsion, micro suspension and bulk using addition polymerization. Suspension polymerization is the most common PVC process. The production of PVC first starts with chlorine being extracted from salt by the process of electrolysis. The chlorine is then reacted with ethylene to produce ethylene dichloride (EDC) molecule. This molecule is
Citations: