IOSR Journal of Applied Chemistry (IOSR-JAC) ISSN: 2278-5736, Pp - 01-05 www.iosrjournals.org International Conference on Advances in Engineering & Technology – 2014 (ICAET-2014) 1 | Page Mechanical, thermal and morphological behavior of PVC- Poly(ethyl acrylate) full IPNs Rupa Bhattacharyya 1 , Sumit Nandi 1 , Debabrata Chakraborty 2 1 Department of Chemistry, Narula Institute of Technology, West Bengal, India. 2 Department of Polymer Science & Technology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. ABSTRACT: Full interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethyl acrylate (PEA) were synthesized using diallyl phthalate (DAP) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross linkers of PVC and PEA respectively. The monomer ethyl acrylate was polymerized in presence of PVC with plasticisers and heat stabilisers and the two polymers were cross linked subsequently to generate full IPNs. The IPNs so produced were characterized with respect to their physico-mechanical, thermal and morphological properties and an attempt has been made to investigate the influence of cross linked PEA moieties in the cross linked major matrix of PVC. The properties revealed the significant effect of rubbery PEA on PVC in the cross linked network. The tensile strength showed a marginal decrease but there was a rise in elongation at break and toughness values at the initial stages due to the incorporation of cross linked PEA. The thermal behavior as envisaged from the thermomechanical analysis and thermogravimetric analysis results substantially prove the modification in the generated IPN systems over that of pure unmodified PVC. The changes in glass transition and degradation temperature indicate stability of the IPN samples. The morphological characteristics maintain good conformity with the mechanicals. Keywords: Mechanical properties, morphology, polyethyl acrylate, polyvinyl chloride, thermal properties. I. INTRODUCTION Cross linking the polymeric chains provide an important way of diversifying the physical and chemical properties of polymers. Interpenetrating polymer networks constitute the class of polymer networks where two cross linked polymer networks are physically interpenetrated and at least one of which is cross linked in the immediate presence of the other[1]. They are characterized by their bi-continuous structure because in this case two polymers are brought into intimate contact without any chemical linkage between them. IPNs are mostly constituted of two polymer matrices, one being the major matrix which covers a larger proportion of the entire polymer mass and the other forming the minor matrix. When the major component is cross linked, semi 1 IPN results whereas when the minor component is cross linked, semi 2 IPN is generated. However, if both the matrices are cross linked, full IPNs are formed [2]. The degree of network interlocking between the components has a measurable effect on various mechanical properties such as modulus, hardness, and ultimate tensile strength (UTS), which in turn depends on whether either component of the network is crosslinked (semi IPN) or whether both of them are crosslinked. Increased network interlocking is expected to improve compatibility [3]. The present study highlights on modifying the properties of PVC by incorporating polyethyl acrylate as the polymeric modifier in the form of full IPN. The inherent problems of poor impact strength and difficult processing of rigid PVC are usually overcome by incorporation of suitable plasticizers and certain rubbery acrylate modifiers [4]. In such cases, there is every possibility of compromising on the mechanical properties of rigid PVC. In our case, we have tried to modify PVC with PEA so that the mechanicals of the full IPNs formed can be kept at par with original PVC or even better [5]. The full IPNs generated by cross linking both the matrices of PVC and PEA were characterized with respect to their mechanical and thermal properties and a correlation was established with the obtained morphology. II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE 2.1 Materials PVC (Reon) grade K 67 was procured from M/s Reliance Industries Ltd. (India) and was used as the matrix resin. Dioctyl phthalate (DOP) from M/s Burgoyne (India) and tribasic lead sulfate (TBLS) from M/s Kalpana Industries Ltd. (Daman, India) were used as suitable plasticizers and stabilizers respectively. Diallyl phthalate DAP) from M/s Burgoyne was used as a crosslinker for PVC. Benzoyl peroxide from Loba Chemie (India) was used as initiator for acrylic polymerization. Ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDM) from Aldrich Chemical Company Inc. was used as the crosslinker for PEA. 2.2 Synthesis of full IPNs A weighed amount of purified monomer was taken in a test tube and thoroughly mixed with 2% by weight (based on monomer taken) of recrystallised Bz 2 O 2 . The resin was taken in an airtight dry blender and