1. General

1.1 Flexible PVC

Almost 85% of plasticizers are used in the manufacture of flexible PVC. Historically, plasticizers, among other things, have made PVC processing possible. It was found that the thermoplastic resulting from this external plasticization (without chemical reaction) retained its properties over a very long period of time; flexible PVC can therefore rightly be considered a different material from unplasticized PVC, known as rigid PVC. Since flexible PVC results from the mixing of two constituents (one liquid, the other solid) in very broad proportions (from 20 to over 600 pcr of plasticizer), the range of flexibilities obtained is extremely wide. This explains the wide range of applications.