ABSTRACT
Nootherthermoplasticandfewnaturallyoccurringmaterialscanmatch therangeofvarietyofPVCapplications.Butforfamiliarity,itwouldsurely seemremarkablethatwaterpipe,cableinsulation,squashbottlesand surgicalglovescanallbemanufacturedfromthesamesyntheticpolymer, particularlyonethatseemedintractableandunattractivewhenfirst discovered.ThisvastexploitationofPVChasbeenmadepossiblebythe impressiveformulationtechnologythathasgrownup,togetherwiththe increasingskillsoftheprocessorsandthemachinemanufacturersthatserve them.Themostradicalchangethatcanbeeffectedbyadditivesis,of course,plasticisation,generallybyliquidesters,toproduceflexible products.SinceplasticisedPVCcanbesodifferentfromtheunplasticised polymer,bothineaseofprocessingandinproductproperties,itwillbe consideredinaseparatechapter.Here,itisintendedtodealonlywithrigid PVC,where,inspiteoftheimportanceofadditives,poly(vinylchloride) constitutesbyfarthemajorconstituentoftheplasticcomposition.
