Study of rigid cross-linked PVC foams with heat resistance.

Three heat resistant cross-linked PVC foam plastics were prepared and their performances were compared with universal cross-linked PVC structural foam. The results show that these three heat resistant foams have higher glass transition temperatures (close to 100 °C) than universal structural foam (83.2 °C). Compared with the universal structural foam, the three heat resistant foams show much higher decomposition temperature and better chemical stability due to the crosslinking of PVC macromolecular chains. The heat distortion temperature (HDT) values of the three heat resistant foam plastics are just a little higher than that of universal structural foam. The three heat resistant foam plastics have good dimensional stability at 140 °C, and when used as core material can closely adhere to the face plates in medium temperature curing processes. Compared with universal structural foam, the three heat resistant foam plastics have slightly better mechanical properties.