Rare Earth Stearates as Thermal Stabilizers for Rigid Poly（vinyl chloride）

A series of stearates with different rare-earth ion were investigated as thermal stabilizers for rigid PVC at 180℃ in air. Their stabilizing efficiency was based on measuring the rate of dehydrochlorination. The resulted revealed the higher stabilizing efficiency of the investigated rare-earth stearates as thermal stabilizers for rigid PVC compared with the thermal stabilizers for industry : calcium stearate, zinc stearate, butyl stannum mercaptide, phosphite esters,β-diketone and epoxidized sunflower oil. This was well illustrated by longer incubation period (Ts) values and lower rate of de-hydrochlorination. The stable efficiency was affected by the nature of rare-earth element's individual electronic shell. The mechanism for the stabilizing effect of rare-earth stearates was proposed. The result was experimentally proved based on IR spectrum.