Fire behavior and transparent properties of polyvinyl chloride film with different plasticized systems

Integrating flame retardancy and high transparency of plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) possesses a significant demand in construction field. In this work, the potential flame retardancy and smoke suppression effects as well as the transparency of plasticized PVC films with different environmentally friendly plasticized systems were investigated. When incorporating six kinds of plasticized systems at 50 phr into PVC resin separately, notably, tris(1-chloro-2-propyl)phosphate (TCPP) endowed plasticized PVC film outstanding fire resistance with a limiting oxygen index (LOI) value over 35% and a V-0 rating in the UL-94 test. With the same plasticizer content, PVC containing poly(1,2-propylene glycol adipate) (PPA) attained a LOI value of 28.1% and a satisfactory UL-94 V-0 grade. Simultaneously, PPA plasticizer exhibited the best efficiency in smoke suppression on PVC, the values of smoke density rating and maximum smoke density were 65.6% and 80.8%, respectively. When TCPP and PPA were used in combination, the flame resistance of PVC film was greatly enhanced with a LOI value over 30% and UL-94 V-0 rating. Furthermore, all PVC films displayed good elasticity with glass transition temperatures below room temperature and high transparency with transmittance values up to 91% which would make PVC materials more popular in interior decoration.