Ricinoleic acid-based plasticizer with excellent optical properties for PVC polymers

A bio-based plasticizer, acetylated cyclohexanol acetyl ricinolate (A-CAE) was successfully prepared from ricinoleic acid by esterification, epoxidation, and acetylation. Its structure was verified by FT-IR and 1H NMR, and its plasticizing properties were tested. Subsequently, A-CAE was used to prepare PVC films and compared with commercial plasticizers dioctyl terephthalate (DOTP) and acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC). The tensile test showed the elongation at break of A-CAE-50 was 40.4 % higher than ATBC-50, 77.3 % higher than DOTP-50 respectively; the optical performance indicated that the transmittance of A-CAE-50 was up to 90.5 %, and the Tg of A-CAE-50 was 32.2 °C, showing that the PVC matrix and A-CAE had excellent compatibility; in migration test, A-CAE also showed outstanding extraction resistance. When A-CAE was blended with DOTP to plasticize PVC together, all the films also showed fantastic transmittance and mechanical properties. All in all, which comprehensively showed that A-CAE had excellent properties of plasticized PVC.