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Plasticisers Jargon Buster
Plasticisers Jargon Buster
About:
Definition:
PLASTICISERS
- You may assume that PVC is pretty constant, you may even realise that there are two types, plasticised or unplasticised.
- In reality PVC recipies are made up to suit the particular application or method of manufacture.
- Unplasticised PVC (PVC-U) is rigid and is used to make windows and doors, the best of which include a steel core to stiffen the fames and allow robust fixing of ironmongery.
- PVC is also used in a flexible or resilient format, in order to achieve this the PVC compound has plasticisers added during the manufacturing process.
- Plasticisers can be up to 40-50% of the recipe by weight.
- Plasticisers are often made of phthalates esters or phthalates, they have been shown to be very unhealthy materials and manufacturers are being encouraged to change the recipe of PVC to reduce the % or replace the phthalates esters in response to REACH Regulations, these changes need to deliver similar performances to the original recipes.
- PVC is used in resilient flooring as sheet delivered as a roll or as tiles, and also used in cove formers, capping, nosing and other extrusions.
(NGS BRM ’13)
Relevance to Sustainable Construction:
Potential defects:
- Seamlessly joined/bonded coved skirtings are added to resilient floor coverings like PVC/Vinyl, rubber to make watertight floors to showers and wet rooms and easy-clean hygienic floors in hospitals.
- The use of high phthalate content as plasticising polymers in PVC coved skirtings, formers and cappings and now incompatible adhesives has lead to polymer migration, shrinkage and adhesive failures resulting in gaps that are no longer bridgeable by the shrunk cove former and no longer repairable with the surfaces coated in plasticised adhesive.
- In Europe the use of coved skirtings in hospitals was abandoned some time ago.
(NGS BRM ’11-’13)
Opinion:
Examples:
Notes:
© GBE NGS ASWS BrianMurphy aka BrianSpecMan
30th October 2013 – 5th November 2018
Plasticisers Jargon Buster
Images:
© GBE NGS ASWS BrianMurphy aka BrianSpecMan
30th October 2013 – 5th November 2018
Plasticisers Jargon Buster
See also:
NGS JARGON BUSTER
- Capping Seal
- Cove
- Coved Skirting
- Cove Former
- Moulding
- Phthalates Esters
- Plasticisers (this page)
- Polymer migration
- Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
- PVC
- REACH
- Skirting
- SIN LIST
- SVHC
- Substances ot Very High Concern (SVHC)
- Toxicity
NGS MATERIALS
- PVC
- Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
NGS DEFECTS
NGS SOLUTIONS
NGS CPD
NGS CHECKLIST
NGS LINKS
- FSP Flooring Sustainability Partnership
- CFA Contract Flooring Association
- CFJ Contract Flooring Journal
NGS PROJECTS
NGS CALCULATOR
- NGS WasteCost© lite
- NGS have an ambition to create a flooring waste calculator
- A grant application to DEFRA September 2013 was rejected.
NGS GREEN BUILDING SPECIFICATION
- Robust Specification Clause
- Robust Specification Work Section
- M50 Gemini Risk Free Cap & Coving
© GBE NGS ASWS BrianMurphy aka BrianSpecMan
30th October 2013 – 5th November 2018
