1. Polyvinyl Chloride  By Annalisa McClure and  Catherine Carey

2. Discovery : Serendipity  When: 1835 – Henri Victory Regnault,  and again in 1872 – Eugen Baumann

3. Discovery : Serendipity  In both cases, the polymer formed itself as a white solid inside flasks of vinyl chloride exposed to sunlight

4. Making use of it  - no attempt to develop a product with it till early the next century. –  -- proved to be too rigid and brittle

5. The blessing and the bane:  The blessing: plasticizers  1926 -- Waldo Semon created the process of adding them.  Plasticizers make PVC flexible and easy to process.  3 millions tons/year in 1965, 20 million tons/year now.  Pvc is one-fifth of all plastics

6. The blessing: Quality of life The blessing and the bane:

7.  The bane:  1. Plasticizers,  2. Dioxin,  3. Recyling difficulty The blessing and the bane:

8.  The bane:  1. Plasticizers (phthalates)  They leach out of the plastic

9.  The bane : 1. Plasticizers (phthalates)  Now found globally in rain water, soil, food, and in humans and wildlife  90 percent of all phthalates are used in vinyl products  Animal studies: Damages sexual development in young rats, causes liver tumors  In humans: Impairs male reproductive system development in human infants and toddlers The blessing and the bane:

10.  The bane: 2. Very difficult to recycle:  Lifespan of 30 years or more, so natural breakdown is almost nil  Only 3% in EU by mechanical breakdown; estimated max of 9% by 2010 or 2020.  Pvc mixed in with other plastics makes the others more difficult to recycle.

11.  The bane : 3. Dioxin  - Incineration produces carcinogenic dioxin, and doesn’t decrease the volume to be disposed of. The blessing and the bane:

12.  Chlorine in = dioxin out The blessing and the bane: Wonder why dioxins are formed in incinerators? Trace the chlorine!

13. PVC-free alternatives exist! Many used in Sidney Olympics 2000

14. PVC-free business initiatives Wavin: No. 1 PVC pipe producer in Europe

15.  Material production now esclating with Cargill/Dow facility capacity of 300 million pounds per year PLA (polylactic acid) for NatureWorks fabrics and plastic. Biobased Plastics

16. Blue Man Group Who? What does this have to do with PVC? Instruments

17.  Starting material  Ethyne + HCL=PVC  Polymers formed from ethylene or substituted ethylenes are called vinyl polymers  No catalyst found

18.  MONOMER,  REPEATING UNIT,  NAME,  USES

19.  Mechanism of polymerization –Segment of PVC containing 3 units of vinyl chloride, initiated by hydrogen peroxide (Radical Initiator here) –Radical polymerization (also undergoes Anionic) –Initiator breaks homolytically into radicals –3 steps  initiation  propagation  termination

20.  Polymer looks like this….  Branching vs. Unbranching

22.  Added for flexibility  Products such as raincoats, shower curtains, and garden hoses  “New car smell”  Health and Safety

25.  THE END