We all know that plasticizers have been widely used in medicine, food packaging, daily necessities, toys, etc. In recent years, we have found that environmentally friendly plasticizers have also begun to be used in these industries. So, why? What about using environmentally friendly plasticizers? We can analyze from the role of plasticizers and the benefits of environmentally friendly plasticizers.
The role of plasticizers
1. Increase the flexibility of the polymer
One of the functions of plasticizers is to increase the flexibility of polymers. It is for this reason that plasticizers have a wide range of uses in medicine and toys. Many people know that plasticizers can be used as additives in plastics, but they do not know that they can also be used in medical equipment. In general, in intravenous (IV) infusion bags and lines, umbilical artery catheters, blood bags and infusion lines, enteral nutrition feeding bags, nasogastric tubes, peritoneal dialysis bags and lines, extracorporeal circulation (CPB) lines Plasticizers are added in membrane oxygenation pipelines (ECMO) and dialysis pipelines.
2. Lower the glass transition temperature
The mechanism of lowering the glass transition temperature is that when the plasticizer and the resin are melted together, the small molecules of the plasticizer will be inserted between the polymer molecular chains, weakening the attraction between the polymer molecular chains and increasing them. The distance between them increases the possibility of the movement of the polymer molecular chains, reduces the entanglement between the polymer molecular chains, and enables the resin to undergo a glass transition at a lower temperature, thereby increasing the plasticity of the plastic.
3. Reduce the surface hardness of the polymer
The effect of reducing the surface hardness of the polymer lies in the properties of each group on the polymer molecular chain. The molecular chain with strong polar groups has a large intermolecular force, and the non-polar molecular chain has a small intermolecular force. Polymers with polar groups are easy to form, and plasticizers can be added. The polar groups of the plasticizers will interact with the polar groups of the polymers, thereby weakening the attraction between the polymers and increasing the plastic purpose.
4. Reduce melt viscosity
This effect is mainly reflected in the records and packaging materials, and the key role is the succinate compounds, which can be copolymerized with each other to obtain impact-resistant and cold-resistant polyvinyl chloride copolymers so that the processed plasticized The agent can play a role in reducing the melt viscosity.
The benefits of environmentally friendly plasticizers
Above we have introduced why plasticizers are used. The use of environmentally friendly plasticizers is an inevitable trend in the use of plasticizers. From the above introduction, we can see that there are still a lot of plasticizers used, but as a chemical substance, excessive use is likely to bring pressure on environmental protection. Why do you say this? As the usage of plasticizer increases, the corresponding waste will also increase. Once the waste accumulates, some chemical reactions will occur, which will be beyond our control. However, on the one hand, the effect of plasticizers is still very large, so people have produced environmentally friendly plasticizers to relieve the pressure of the environment. In this way, the use of environmentally friendly plasticizers is still necessary.