Green Flooring Based on Bio-derived Plastisols

PVC Flooring Figure 1: Cushion Vinyl Sheet Construction

Polyvinyl chloride or PVC, is one of the most commonly used plastics in the world with various applications ranging from construction materials, pipes, packaging, consumer goods and electrical products. PVC is also known as an extremely hazardous material for human health and the environment. It emits toxic compounds from its manufacture to its disposal. Dioxin, vinyl chloride and 1, 2- dichloroethane, which are unavoidably created in production of PVC, can cause severe health problems including cancer, endocrine disruption and neurological damage. During use, PVC products can leach toxic 
additives, for example phthalates which are extensively used as PVC plasticisers. When PVC reaches the end of its life, it can be either landfilled, where it leaches toxic additives or incinerated, again emitting dioxin and heavy metals. Currently, less than 1% of consumed PVC is being recycled due to high cost and difficulty of the recycling process. When PVC burns in accidental fires, hydrogen chloride gas and dioxin are formed.

The main objective of this project is to develop a novel bio-based material to replace PVC in resilient flooring applications, in particular, the clear wearlayer (Figure 1). The production of this new PVC alternative should mimic or utilise the plastisol technology and can be processed in the existing equipment with no or minimal alteration. Furthermore, the product is required to have in-use performance matching that of PVC materials. Hence, the resulting film is expected to be thermally and chemically stable, transparent, flexible and water resistant. A number of natural polymers and bio-derived molecules have been investigating in order to attain a promising formulation. Different techniques, including thermal analysis (e.g. STA, DSC, TG-IR), spectroscopy (e.g. IR, ATR , UV-Vis) and mechanical analysis, have been applying to help us to understand the formulation and consequently optimise it to achieve the required product.