Pal, SN; Ramani, AV; Subramanian, N
Plasticized PVC finds applications in a wide range of
medical products. However, plasticizer leaching, known to take place from these conventional
materials, is not desirable. A number of approaches to overcome this problem are mentioned in the
literature. We suggest pursuing the polyblend approach. Plasticized PVC containing different
amounts of plasticizer, binary polyblends of plasticized PVC (PPVC) with acrylonitrile-butadiene
rubber (NBR1), and compounded graft polymer of vinyl chloride and ethylene-vinyl acetate
copolymer (EVAPVC), and ternary blends of PPVC, NBR1, and EVAPVC, were formulated. In this
article, we report our results of studies on water vapor, O2, CO2, and N2 permeabilities.
Increased plasticization for PVC was found to increase permeability for water vapor, O2, CO2, and
N2. Rise in temperature increased the permeability for water vapor and the change became faster
as the materials crossed the region of T(g). A simple model suggested for permeability worked
satisfactorily. The binary and ternary blends, based on PPVC, had lower O2, CO2, and N2
permeability. This improvement in property is of great practical significance and interest and
the results indicate that PVC-based polyblends can be investigated further for potential
applications in medicine.
Gas permeability; Gas permeable membranes; Medical applications; Plasticized polyvinyl chlorides; Polyvinyl chloride based polyblends; Biotechnology and Bioengineering Abstracts; Bioengineering Abstracts; Plasticizers; Leaching; Biomaterials; W 30965:Miscellaneous, Reviews; W4 817.2:PLASTICS APPLICATIONS; W4 815.1.1:ORGANIC POLYMERS; W4 462.5:BIOMATERIALS