| Abstract: | The viscosity of freshly prepared poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) plastisol increases with time, and this phenomenon is called viscosity aging. The increase is rapid in the beginning and slows down to a quasistable value, but a very slow increase continues. The phenomenon may be a result of either the deagglomeration of agglomerated particles or the dissolution of low‐molecular‐weight PVC into the plasticizer. In this work, two typical commercial resins were used, one containing friable agglomerates and the other containing nonfriable agglomerates. With the friable‐agglomerate resin, about 40% of the initially present agglomerates deagglomerated, whereas the viscosity increased in a week to twice the initial value. With the nonfriable‐agglomerate resin, very fine and very low molecular weight particles, about 3% of all the particles, dissolved into the plasticizer in 2 days. The effect of the plasticizer type on the viscosity aging through deagglomeration was investigated with four plasticizers and three plasticizer blends. The emulsifiers used for polymerization, and retained through drying, affected the aging in the beginning. On the other hand, the viscosity after 1 week was free from the effect of the emulsifier and was affected only by the plasticizer type. With the exception of two blends, the 1‐week viscosity was quantitatively related to the dielectric constant divided by the molecular weight of the plasticizer. For the plasticizer blends, one of the plasticizers could have a dominant effect on the promotion of deagglomeration. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 95: 448–464, 2005 |
