Crosslinking of poly(vinyl chloride) with bismaleic compound. I. Crosslinking mechanism

Crosslinked poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) was obtained by using bismaleic compound (BMC). Styrene, as auxiliary crosslinker, can markedly promote the crosslinking course. After having carefully studied the gelling behavior of PVC in crosslinking, and the reactivity of styrene and BMC with PVC, the crosslink mechanism was suggested. The main crosslink reaction is the bridging of bismaleic compound between PVC macroradicals, which were created by thermal degradation of PVC and disproportionation of PVC with initiator radicals and styrene radicals. The first step of crosslink reaction was the BMC grafting on PVC macroradicals. Then styrene copolymerizes with active center bearing on bismaleic compound to propagate graft chain, which make bridging reaction easier to take place. At last, PVC^* reacted with another double bond possessed by grafted BMC to form network structure