Preparation and Mechanical Properties of Polyvinyl Alcohol Film
Aug 14, 2025
Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a widely used synthetic material. PVA ability to dissolve in water and break down naturally makes it a good choice for packaging films. The main production methods for PVA film are aqueous solution coating and melt blow molding. PVA is hard to shape with heat because it melts at a higher temperature than it decomposes. This is due to the strong links between its molecules and its crystal structure. Therefore, the most important factor in the processing of PVA film is the selection of appropriate additives.
1. Effect of Plasticizer Amount on Tensile Strength, Tear Strength, and Elongation at Break of Polyvinyl Alcohol Film
As shown in Figure 1, film ability to resist breaking lessens as more plasticizer is added. This suggests that plasticizers reduce how strong the film is. The plasticizer gel theory explains that when the plasticizer mixes with the resin, it loosens the points where the resin molecules connect. These connections have different strengths. The plasticizer pulls them apart and hides the forces that hold the polymer together. This reduces the secondary forces between the polymer macromolecules, increases the flexibility of the macromolecular chains, and accelerates the relaxation process. Tensile strength goes down as you add more plasticizer.
As the amount of plasticizer is increased, the film becomes more flexible and stretches further before breaking. This suggests that plasticizers make the film more pliable. Plasticizers achieve this by weakening the attraction between the large molecules in the polymer. This increased flexibility and longer relaxation period lead to the film ability to stretch further.
The data indicates that as more plasticizer is added, the film becomes easier to tear. This likely happens as the plasticizer reduces the film's surface energy and lessens the energy needed for both plastic flow and lasting deformation. These factors, in turn, contribute to the film's reduced resistance to tearing.
2. Effect of Crosslinker Amount on the Tensile Strength, Elongation at Break, and Tear Strength of PVA Film
As shown in Figure 3, the film's tensile strength goes up gradually as the amount of crosslinker is increased, during which the elongation at break goes down gradually. When a certain point is reached, the film's tensile strength goes down gradually, while the elongation at break goes up gradually. At first, as more crosslinker is added, the number of working polymer chains goes up, intermolecular forces get stronger, and the polymer chains become less flexible. The ability of the large molecular chains to change shape and rearrange decreases while the chain relaxation is difficult. So, the tensile strength goes up, while the elongation at break goes down. Continuing the use of crosslinkers causes degradation and branching to increase gradually, which decreases the number of working polymer chains, and increases the flexibility of the polymer chains. The ability of the large molecular chains to change shape and rearrange increases, while the chain relaxation becomes easier. As a result, the tensile strength starts to go down again, while the elongation at break goes back up.
As shown in Figure 4, the tear strength of the film changes with the amount of crosslinker. At first, it goes up, but then it starts to go down. This happens because when crosslinking starts, more crosslinker helps the polymer network form. This makes the film's surface energy go up gradually. It then needs more energy to spread plastic flow and irreversible viscoelastic processes. Because of this, the film's tear strength gets better as crosslinking happens. But, if there is too much crosslinker with too much polymer broken down, and there are more branching reactions, the tear strength gets worse.
3. Conclusions
When you add more plasticizer, PVA film becomes less strong but stretches and tears more easily.
When you add more crosslinker, film strength and resistance to tearing improve at first, but then weaken, while its ability to stretch keeps getting better.
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