Synthesized the cold-resistant plasticizer epoxidized 1,6-hexanediol oleate and effects on the properties of polyvinyl chloride

In order to solve the problem of plasticizers limited in alpine regions, in this paper, 1,6-hexanediol oleate (HD) was synthesized by a simple synthetic method using oleic acid and 1.6-hexanediol, and its epoxidation reaction was utilized to prepare a cold-resistant plasticizer (epoxidized 1,6-hexanediol oleate (EHD)) with excellent performances, which was structurally characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and 1HNMR. The properties of HD and EHD plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were tested and compared with dioctyl adipate (DOA). The results showed that the elongation at break, migration resistance and UV resistance of HD plasticized PVC films were slightly lower than those of DOA plasticized PVC films, but the temperature was 24.4 °C higher than that of DOA at 25% loss of mass, and the thermal stability was better; the epoxidized EHD plasticized PVC films showed 48.78% higher mechanical properties, 11.4 °C higher thermal stability at 25% loss of mass, higher migration resistance, compared with the DOA plasticized PVC films. The mechanical properties were 48.78% higher than those of DOA plasticized PVC films, the migration resistance was more stable in petroleum ether and anhydrous ethanol, and the UV resistance was better than that of DOA plasticized PVC films. Molecular dynamics simulations further verified the migration resistance of EHD/PVC in different solvents. In conclusion, EHD is suitable for low-temperature environments with excellent cold resistance, migration resistance and good stability.