The effects of Organoclay on the Mechanical, Thermal and Rheological Properties of Polyvinylchloride (PVC)

The effects of Organoclay on the Mechanical, Thermal and Rheological Properties of Polyvinylchloride (PVC) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The effects of Organoclay on the Mechanical, Thermal and Rheological Properties of Polyvinylchloride (PVC) Chaouki bendjaouhdou This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3925300/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The aim of this work was to study the effects of an organomontmorillonite or organoclay (OMMT) on the properties of a polyvinylchloride (PVC) polymer used in the fabrication of electrical cable sheath in order to replace the chalk by organoclay in the cable PVC sheath manufacturing. The resulted nanocomposite blend, based on organoclay and PVC polymer, was prepared by melt blending. The results obtained showed a slight improvement of the blend mechanical properties (tensile strength, and elongation at break) when the amount of the organoclay was 1 wt. %. The thermal stability (deshydrochloration test) is maximal when the concentration of the organoclay was equal to 1 wt. %. The water uptake study reveals that the amount of the absorbed water does not exceed 0.1 wt % when the concentration of the organoclay is 1.5 wt. %. A rheological test revealed that the addition of organoclay doesn’t increase the melt viscosity of the PVC/OMMT nanocomposite blend. organoclay PVC mechanical properties thermal stability rheological test Figures Figure 1 1. Introduction Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is the leading polymeric material used in medical device and packaging applications. It offers a uniquely broad range of properties for a wide variety of applications in the medical, health care industry and electric cable fabrication. It fulfills an extensive range of performance and processing requirements such as gloss, transparency, chemical resistance, scuff resistance, flexibility, sterilizability by steam, and high energy irradiation [ 1 ]. Various medical applications are made from, or contain PVC, including: - containers for blood and urine continence products; - catheters and cannulae; -surgical and examination gloves; - inhalation masks [ 1 ]. Most of studies on polymer/clay nanocomposite preparations report the applicability of the invented method to a variety of polymers and their blends [ 2 – 3 ]. Furthermore, some focus on the use of blends as a matrix for the modification of performance, e.g, improving stiffness, permeability control, or a good balance of performance [ 2 – 3 ]. The main objective to add organoclay to a thermoplastic polymer or to a polymer blend is to improve the mechanical properties (stiffness and hardness) and thermal stability. The objective of this work is to study the effects of an organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) as nanofiller able to improve the strength and hardness of a polyvinylchloride (PVC) thermoplastic polymer and, above all, to check the possibility to replace, in the future, the chalk commonly used in the manufacturing of PVC based shealted electrical cable. In this study, the organoclay concentration was varied from 0.5 to 7 wt %. 2. Experimental 2.1. Materials A commercially available polychloride vinyl (SE 1200) was used as the blend major component. It was in powder form with a 100 µm mean dry particle size and it had a linear structure. The plastifier used was DOP (45 wt %) and the thermal stabilizer was Ca/Zn. The reinforcement used is BENTONE 38 ® (BENTONE SUD, France), it is an organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) clay and it was used, as received, without washing (Cationic Exchange Capacity = 120 mEq/100g). As mentioned by the manufacturer, the quaternary ammonium salt used for the clay organic modification is: Di-Methyl Di-Hydrogenated Tallow salt: 2M2HT (HT = C 18 H 37 ). The organoclay was in powder form with a 20 µm mean dry particle size. 2.2. Preparation of the samples Before blending, organoclay and polyvinylchloride were dried in oven at 80°C during 24 hours. The components were first blended, at 175°C, in a dry blender (VEM MSH 25) operating at 3000 rpm. Afterwards, the resulted blend was mixed in a two roll mill (BRABENDER POLYMIX 200P). The twin roll mill possesses a nip clearance of 0.5 mm and friction ratio equal to 1.3 (20/15 rpm) and the blending was carried out for 15 minutes. The twin roll mill was operated at 145°C and 25 rpm. Finally, the blend was extruded in a single screw extruder. The extruder used is SCHWABENTHAN PLE 330; it has a ratio length/diameter equal to 21, a diameter of 20 mm, a thread thickness of 5.4 mm and the step between two successive threads equal to 15 mm. The barrel temperatures (from feed zone to die) and screw speed were set, respectively, at 170-180-190°C and 45 rpm. The screw used is conventional. Six formulations have been studied. 2.3 . Characterizations Tensile tests were done at ambient temperature (25 ± 2°C) according to ASTM D 417 with a ZWICK ROELL Z100 testing machine interfaced with a computer. The dumb-bell shaped specimens were extended at a cross head speed of 100 mm/min. The reported values of the tensile properties represent averages of the results from test runs on five specimens. The standard deviation was 2% for the maximal tensile strength and 5% for the elongation at break.The dumb-bell shaped specimens (gauge length 24 mm, width 5 mm, thickness 2 mm) were cut with a special cutting machine from sheets having 2 mm thickness. These sheets were obtained by compression moulding 35 g of each sample at 175°C in a SCHWABENTHAN POLYSTAT 300S hydraulic press, according to the following program : preheating during 7 minutes; 50 Bars pressure applied for 2 minutes; 200 Bars applied for 3 minutes and finally, 350 Bars applied for 4 minutes.Shore A hardness tests were carried out by ZWICK ROELL HPE apparatus according to ISO 868 norm. The standard deviation for the Shore A hardness was 3%.The thermal stability of the PVC/clay composites and neat PVC were investigated by deshydrochloration test apparatus at 200°C. The thermal stability was evaluated by evaluating the time for the occurrence of the deshydrochloration (HCl releasing). The water uptake measurements were done according to the gravimetric method (ASTM D 2765-95, Method C). The samples (circular film having 1mm thickness obtained by compression moulding) were immersed in distilled water for 3 days at 25°C. The results were averaged for five measurements. The rheological analysis was done with a Monsanto Rheometer, model 100/4308, in order to get the exerted torque versus time. For each formulation, samples of 4.5 g weight were analyzed under temperature equal to 175°C. 3. Results and discussion 3.2. Mechanical properties It can be noticed from Table 1 that the 1 wt % loading organoclay blend possesses balanced mechanical properties, i.e., the stiffness (expressed by the tensile strength and hardness) as well as the ductility (expressed by the elongation at break) are maximal. The maximal values of tensile strength, hardness, and elongation at break obtained for 1 wt % organoclay loading can be explained by the intercalation of the PVC chains between organoclay platelets. The improvements (up to 1 wt % organoclay loading) of tensile strength and hardness show that organoclay acts as reinforcing filler. The increase of elongation at break (up to 1 wt % organoclay loading) can be explained by the improvement of the ductility due to the compatibilization effect of the organoclay [ 4 ]. The improvements of the mechanical properties, up to 1 wt % organoclay loading, can be explained by the two step processes used in the present study (two roll milling followed by extrusion) since it has been reported that such two step process can improve notably the properties of composites [ 5 ]. Therefore, in the present study, the inclusion of 1 wt % organoclay rigid filler leads to a better balance between strength and ductility. 3.4. Thermal analysis The information that seems to be important to characterize thermal stability is the time of the degradation, which is measured by the deshydrochloration duration of the tested samples. The results obtained are summarized in Table 2 . One can see that the composite containing 1 wt % of organoclay the time of degradation is maximal and equal to 70 minutes. Table 2 shows clearly that the 1 wt % organoclay based blend is the more thermally stable since it presents the maximal deshydrochloration duration; this is due to the high degradation resistance of the intercalated-confined PVC chains and also to the reduction of the diffusion rates of volatiles out of the material . 3.5. Rheological study Many researchers [ 6 ] reported that Brabender torque –time curves can be used to analyse the processing characteristics of polymer melt mixing. The equilibrium torque (stabilization torque) reached at the completion of melt mixing was used to assess the processability of the polymer mixing which is related directly to the viscosity of the resin [ 6 – 7 ]. On the other hand, the maximal torque (MH) can be regarded as a measure of the blend stiffness or Young’s modulus [ 8 ], and the minimal torque (ML) is related to the melt viscosity of the blend [ 8 ]. Figure 1 shows the plastograms of pure PVC and PVC/ Organoclay nanocomposites and their related results are summarized in Table 3 . It can be deduced from Fig. 1 and Table 3 that the incorporation of organoclay has increased the MH and MH-ML difference, whereas, the ML remains constant on the whole (approximately 5 dN.m). It can be noted that, for all formulations, the introduction of organoclay into the PVC/Organoclay blend has not increased the torque in the steady state (BT). Furthermore, the melt viscosity, expressed by ML [ 8 ] and BT [ 6 – 7 ], of organoclay based formulations does not increase relatively to the pure PVC one. It can be concluded that the processability of the PVC/OMMT blend is not notably affected by the addition of the organoclay. 3.6. Water uptake properties The results of the water uptake measurement are shown in Table 4. It can be seen that the formulation containing 1.5 wt % of organoclay presents the highest water uptake rate 0.1%. The increase of the water uptake as the organoclay content increase can be explained by the aggregation of the organoclay particles. The formation and the increase of these organoclay aggregates facilitate the permeation of the solvent (water) and as a consequence increase its uptake effect. 4. Conclusion In this study it was observed that the improvements of the mechanical and thermal properties of the prepared blend are realised for 1 wt % organoclay loading. The stiffness (expressed by the tensile strength and hardness) and ductility or toughness (expressed by the elongation at break) are well balanced for 1 wt % organoclay concentration. The thermal stability of PVC/Organoclay blends is maximal when the concentration of the organoclay was equal to 1 wt %. The water uptake study reveals that the amount of the absorbed water does not exceed 0.1 wt % when the concentration of the organoclay is 1.5 wt %. The rheological study revealed that the viscosity of the studied formulations does not increase with the addition of organoclay. The major finding of this study is that for the PVC/Organoclay nanocomposite, the stiffness and toughness are well balanced for 1 wt % organoclay loading and the compatibilization and reinforcement effects of the organoclay are highest for the same concentration. References Hong K. Z. J Vin Add Tech. 1996, 2(3): 193–197. Bendjaouahdou C, Bensaad S (2011) Properties of polypropylene/(natural rubber)/organomontmorillonite nanocomposites prepared by melt blending. J. Vinyl. Add. Techn 17:48–57 Bendjaouahdou C, Bensaad S (2018) Aging studies of a polypropylene and natural rubber blend. International Journal of Industrial Chemistry, 9, 345–352. Bergman J S, Chen H, Giannelis E P, Thomas M G, Coates G W. Chem. Com. 1999;21 : 2179–2180. Giannelis E. P, Krishnamoorti R, Manias E. Adv. Polym. Sci. 1999; 138 :107. M.Y. Gelfer, H.H. Song, L. Liu, B.S. Hsiao, B. Chu, and M. Rafailovich, J. Polym. Sci. Part B: Polym. Phys., 41, 44 (2003). F. Mina, S. Seema, R. Matin, J. Rahaman, R.B. Sarker, A. Gafur, and A.H. Bhuiyan, Polym. Degrad. Stab., 94, 183 (2009). M. Frounchi, S. Dadbin, Z. Salehpour, and M. Noferesti, J. Membr. Sci., 282, 142 (2006). J.E. Goodrich and R.S. Porter, Polym. Eng. Sci., 7, 45 (1967). P.L Teh, Z.A. Mohd Ishak, A.S. Hashim, J. Kager-Kocsis, and U.S. Ishiaku, Eur. Polym. J., 40, 2513 (2004). Tables Tables 1 to 4 are available in the Supplementary Files section. Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files Tables.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3925300","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":270855114,"identity":"8ecd0d9a-8a2b-4706-885c-bd1889c23873","order_by":0,"name":"Chaouki bendjaouhdou","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA7ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCQYGxgaDf3JszIyNDxgYDgCFGB8QoaXigDE/e/NhA4gWZgMitJw5kDiz51iaBFFa+Gc3P5Oc2XaHccONHLNqnpo7cvwMzGwf8Fpy55iZ5Ma2Z8wGQC23eY49M5ZsYGaegU+LgUSC2c2HbcxsEC1shxM3HOA/jNdhBhLp30BaeEBainn+gbQwMxPQkmN2c8OZwxKSQO8z87YRoUXiRk75zxkVaQagQJac23fYWLKZgBb+GembDXsMbOrbgFH54c23w3JAvfi1oAAmHhBJggZgnP4gRfUoGAWjYBSMGAAAzF5Q6erCPq0AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Biskra University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chaouki","middleName":"","lastName":"bendjaouhdou","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-02-03 21:02:01","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3925300/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3925300/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":50706442,"identity":"90047f5f-73ef-42fd-810d-421377360e01","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-02-06 06:17:24","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":19717,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eTorque versus time of pure PVC (0 % OMMT) and its nanocomposites.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3925300/v1/6cdf3acfd58ab593e6bb6f43.png"},{"id":50707004,"identity":"51786629-7120-4354-870e-188fa3cadcde","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-02-06 06:25:24","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":196661,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3925300/v1/22d88470-c15e-4093-8670-52857c51abda.pdf"},{"id":50706443,"identity":"6f46314e-c840-4650-8122-fd680d53d7da","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-02-06 06:17:24","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":25594,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Tables.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3925300/v1/88ed4762b49638d000166835.docx"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eThe effects of Organoclay on the Mechanical, Thermal and Rheological Properties of Polyvinylchloride (PVC)\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[{"header":"1. Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003ePolyvinyl chloride (PVC) is the leading polymeric material used in medical device and packaging applications. It offers a uniquely broad range of properties for a wide variety of applications in the medical, health care industry and electric cable fabrication. It fulfills an extensive range of performance and processing requirements such as gloss, transparency, chemical resistance, scuff resistance, flexibility, sterilizability by steam, and high energy irradiation [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e]. Various medical applications are made from, or contain PVC, including:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- containers for blood and urine continence products;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- catheters and cannulae;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-surgical and examination gloves;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- inhalation masks [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost of studies on polymer/clay nanocomposite preparations report the applicability of the invented method to a variety of polymers and their blends [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e]. Furthermore, some focus on the use of blends as a matrix for the modification of performance, e.g, improving stiffness, permeability control, or a good balance of performance [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e]. The main objective to add organoclay to a thermoplastic polymer or to a polymer blend is to improve the mechanical properties (stiffness and hardness) and thermal stability.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe objective of this work is to study the effects of an organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) as nanofiller able to improve the strength and hardness of a polyvinylchloride (PVC) thermoplastic polymer and, above all, to check the possibility to replace, in the future, the chalk commonly used in the manufacturing of PVC based shealted electrical cable. In this study, the organoclay concentration was varied from 0.5 to 7 wt %.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2. Experimental","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.1. Materials\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eA commercially available polychloride vinyl (SE 1200) was used as the blend major component. It was in powder form with a 100 \u0026micro;m mean dry particle size and it had a linear structure. The plastifier used was DOP (45 wt %) and the thermal stabilizer was Ca/Zn. The reinforcement used is BENTONE 38\u003csup\u003e\u0026reg;\u003c/sup\u003e (BENTONE SUD, France), it is an organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) clay and it was used, as received, without washing (Cationic Exchange Capacity\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;120 mEq/100g). As mentioned by the manufacturer, the quaternary ammonium salt used for the clay organic modification is: Di-Methyl Di-Hydrogenated Tallow salt: 2M2HT (HT\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;C\u003csub\u003e18\u003c/sub\u003eH\u003csub\u003e37\u003c/sub\u003e). The organoclay was in powder form with a 20 \u0026micro;m mean dry particle size. \u003cem\u003e2.2. Preparation of the samples\u003c/em\u003eBefore blending, organoclay and polyvinylchloride were dried in oven at 80\u0026deg;C during 24 hours. The components were first blended, at 175\u0026deg;C, in a dry blender (VEM MSH 25) operating at 3000 rpm. Afterwards, the resulted blend was mixed in a two roll mill (BRABENDER POLYMIX 200P). The twin roll mill possesses a nip clearance of 0.5 mm and friction ratio equal to 1.3 (20/15 rpm) and the blending was carried out for 15 minutes. The twin roll mill was operated at 145\u0026deg;C and 25 rpm. Finally, the blend was extruded in a single screw extruder. The extruder used is SCHWABENTHAN PLE 330; it has a ratio length/diameter equal to 21, a diameter of 20 mm, a thread thickness of 5.4 mm and the step between two successive threads equal to 15 mm. The barrel temperatures (from feed zone to die) and screw speed were set, respectively, at 170-180-190\u0026deg;C and 45 rpm. The screw used is conventional. Six formulations have been studied. \u003cem\u003e2.3\u003c/em\u003e. \u003cem\u003eCharacterizations\u003c/em\u003eTensile tests were done at ambient temperature (25\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2\u0026deg;C) according to ASTM D 417 with a ZWICK ROELL Z100 testing machine interfaced with a computer. The dumb-bell shaped specimens were extended at a cross head speed of 100 mm/min. The reported values of the tensile properties represent averages of the results from test runs on five specimens. The standard deviation was 2% for the maximal tensile strength and 5% for the elongation at break.The dumb-bell shaped specimens (gauge length 24 mm, width 5 mm, thickness 2 mm) were cut with a special cutting machine from sheets having 2 mm thickness. These sheets were obtained by compression moulding 35 g of each sample at 175\u0026deg;C in a SCHWABENTHAN POLYSTAT 300S hydraulic press, according to the following program : preheating during 7 minutes; 50 Bars pressure applied for 2 minutes; 200 Bars applied for 3 minutes and finally, 350 Bars applied for 4 minutes.Shore A hardness tests were carried out by ZWICK ROELL HPE apparatus according to ISO 868 norm. The standard deviation for the Shore A hardness was 3%.The thermal stability of the PVC/clay composites and neat PVC were investigated by deshydrochloration test apparatus at 200\u0026deg;C. The thermal stability was evaluated by evaluating the time for the occurrence of the deshydrochloration (HCl releasing).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe water uptake measurements were done according to the gravimetric method (ASTM D 2765-95, Method C). The samples (circular film having 1mm thickness obtained by compression moulding) were immersed in distilled water for 3 days at 25\u0026deg;C. The results were averaged for five measurements.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe rheological analysis was done with a Monsanto Rheometer, model 100/4308, in order to get the exerted torque versus time. For each formulation, samples of 4.5 g weight were analyzed under temperature equal to 175\u0026deg;C.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"3. Results and discussion","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e3.2. Mechanical properties\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eIt can be noticed from Table \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e that the 1 wt % loading organoclay blend possesses balanced mechanical properties, i.e., the stiffness (expressed by the tensile strength and hardness) as well as the ductility (expressed by the elongation at break) are maximal. The maximal values of tensile strength, hardness, and elongation at break obtained for 1 wt % organoclay loading can be explained by the intercalation of the PVC chains between organoclay platelets. The improvements (up to 1 wt % organoclay loading) of tensile strength and hardness show that organoclay acts as reinforcing filler. The increase of elongation at break (up to 1 wt % organoclay loading) can be explained by the improvement of the ductility due to the compatibilization effect of the organoclay [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e]. The improvements of the mechanical properties, up to 1 wt % organoclay loading, can be explained by the two step processes used in the present study (two roll milling followed by extrusion) since it has been reported that such two step process can improve notably the properties of composites [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e]. Therefore, in the present study, the inclusion of 1 wt % organoclay rigid filler leads to a better balance between strength and ductility.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e3.4. Thermal analysis\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe information that seems to be important to characterize thermal stability is the time of the degradation, which is measured by the deshydrochloration duration of the tested samples. The results obtained are summarized in Table \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e. One can see that the composite containing 1 wt % of organoclay the time of degradation is maximal and equal to 70 minutes. Table \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e shows clearly that the 1 wt % organoclay based blend is the more thermally stable since it presents the maximal deshydrochloration duration; this is due to the high degradation resistance of the intercalated-confined PVC chains and also to the reduction of the diffusion rates of volatiles out of the material .\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e3.5. Rheological study\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMany researchers [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e] reported that Brabender torque \u0026ndash;time curves can be used to analyse the processing characteristics of polymer melt mixing. The equilibrium torque (stabilization torque) reached at the completion of melt mixing was used to assess the processability of the polymer mixing which is related directly to the viscosity of the resin [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e]. On the other hand, the maximal torque (MH) can be regarded as a measure of the blend stiffness or Young\u0026rsquo;s modulus [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e], and the minimal torque (ML) is related to the melt viscosity of the blend [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e]. Figure \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e shows the plastograms of pure PVC and PVC/ Organoclay nanocomposites and their related results are summarized in Table \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e. It can be deduced from Fig. \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e and Table \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e that the incorporation of organoclay has increased the MH and MH-ML difference, whereas, the ML remains constant on the whole (approximately 5 dN.m). It can be noted that, for all formulations, the introduction of organoclay into the PVC/Organoclay blend has not increased the torque in the steady state (BT). Furthermore, the melt viscosity, expressed by ML [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e] and BT [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e], of organoclay based formulations does not increase relatively to the pure PVC one. It can be concluded that the processability of the PVC/OMMT blend is not notably affected by the addition of the organoclay.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e3.6. Water uptake properties\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe results of the water uptake measurement are shown in Table 4. It can be seen that the formulation containing 1.5 wt % of organoclay presents the highest water uptake rate 0.1%. The increase of the water uptake as the organoclay content increase can be explained by the aggregation of the organoclay particles. The formation and the increase of these organoclay aggregates facilitate the permeation of the solvent (water) and as a consequence increase its uptake effect.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"4. Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eIn this study it was observed that the improvements of the mechanical and thermal properties of the prepared blend are realised for 1 wt % organoclay loading. The stiffness (expressed by the tensile strength and hardness) and ductility or toughness (expressed by the elongation at break) are well balanced for 1 wt % organoclay concentration. The thermal stability of PVC/Organoclay blends is maximal when the concentration of the organoclay was equal to 1 wt %. The water uptake study reveals that the amount of the absorbed water does not exceed 0.1 wt % when the concentration of the organoclay is 1.5 wt %. The rheological study revealed that the viscosity of the studied formulations does not increase with the addition of organoclay. The major finding of this study is that for the PVC/Organoclay nanocomposite, the stiffness and toughness are well balanced for 1 wt % organoclay loading and the compatibilization and reinforcement effects of the organoclay are highest for the same concentration.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHong K. Z. J Vin Add Tech. 1996, 2(3): 193\u0026ndash;197.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBendjaouahdou C, Bensaad S (2011) Properties of polypropylene/(natural rubber)/organomontmorillonite nanocomposites prepared by melt blending. J. Vinyl. Add. Techn 17:48\u0026ndash;57\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBendjaouahdou C, Bensaad S (2018) Aging studies of a polypropylene and natural rubber blend. International Journal of Industrial Chemistry, 9, 345\u0026ndash;352.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBergman J S, Chen H, Giannelis E P, Thomas M G, Coates G W. Chem. Com. 1999;21 : 2179\u0026ndash;2180.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGiannelis E. P, Krishnamoorti R, Manias E. Adv. Polym. Sci. 1999; 138 :107.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eM.Y. Gelfer, H.H. Song, L. Liu, B.S. Hsiao, B. Chu, and M. Rafailovich, J. Polym. Sci. Part B: Polym. Phys., 41, 44 (2003).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eF. Mina, S. Seema, R. Matin, J. Rahaman, R.B. Sarker, A. Gafur, and A.H. Bhuiyan, Polym. Degrad. Stab., 94, 183 (2009).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eM. Frounchi, S. Dadbin, Z. Salehpour, and M. Noferesti, J. Membr. Sci., 282, 142 (2006).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJ.E. Goodrich and R.S. Porter, Polym. Eng. Sci., 7, 45 (1967).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eP.L Teh, Z.A. Mohd Ishak, A.S. Hashim, J. Kager-Kocsis, and U.S. Ishiaku, Eur. Polym. J., 40, 2513 (2004).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"},{"header":"Tables","content":"\u003cp\u003eTables 1 to 4 are available in the Supplementary Files section.\u003c/p\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"organoclay, PVC, mechanical properties, thermal stability, rheological test","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3925300/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3925300/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe aim of this work was to study the effects of an organomontmorillonite or organoclay (OMMT) on the properties of a polyvinylchloride (PVC) polymer used in the fabrication of electrical cable sheath in order to replace the chalk by organoclay in the cable PVC sheath manufacturing. The resulted nanocomposite blend, based on organoclay and PVC polymer, was prepared by melt blending. The results obtained showed a slight improvement of the blend mechanical properties (tensile strength, and elongation at break) when the amount of the organoclay was 1 wt. %. The thermal stability (deshydrochloration test) is maximal when the concentration of the organoclay was equal to 1 wt. %. The water uptake study reveals that the amount of the absorbed water does not exceed 0.1 wt % when the concentration of the organoclay is 1.5 wt. %. A rheological test revealed that the addition of organoclay doesn\u0026rsquo;t increase the melt viscosity of the PVC/OMMT nanocomposite blend.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"The effects of Organoclay on the Mechanical, Thermal and Rheological Properties of Polyvinylchloride (PVC)","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-02-06 06:17:19","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3925300/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"4c783c1a-1647-4388-8611-dad19ed5f95a","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 6th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-02-06T06:17:19+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-02-06 06:17:19","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-3925300","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-3925300","identity":"rs-3925300","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}