Interesting Facts About Polyvinyl Chloride

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By Lenna Stockwell


While the words polyvinyl chloride might be unfamiliar to you, this is a type of thermoplastic that is better known simply as PVC. While we typically associated PVC with pipes, many products actually are made out of this plastic. Here are a few facts about polyvinyl chloride that you might find interesting.

For starters, you may not know this but truth is several products, other than pipes, like insulation for electrical cables use the PVC type of thermoplastic. The vinyl siding you may find being used in some homes' exterior as replacement for wood is actually PVC as it is highly durable and definitely resistant to natural elements.

Plastic signs also often are made using PVC, as well as furnishings, flooring, artificial Christmas trees and sometimes even clothing, which are created because it mimics the look of leather and latex but is less expensive to produce. Because of its resistance to water, it often will be used to make heavy-duty winter coats, ski clothes and other ski equipment.

Vinyl records forming part of your collection are made of PVC too. It is why they are well known as "vinyl" records. Although sometimes other records back in the day were made out of polystyrene, also a thermoplastic. One brand name of polystyrene is Styrofoam, which probably is quite familiar to you. Many thermoforming companies use in creating containers and cups which are custom thermoform. Polycarbonate which is another type of plastic is responsible for the manufacture of Compact Discs. Your DVDs are made out of this thermoplastic as well.

Do you know that PVC was in fact like all other plastics whose discovery has been accidental? This one was discovered by on two different occasions. In 1835, it was Henri Victor Regnault who discovered it the first time and then 40 years later a certain Eugen Baumann stumbled upon it the second time. Nevertheless, they both only wrote about it but never had it patented. It took a German inventor to patent it in 1913 however its "more or less" perfect state was all thanks to Waldo Semon, one of the world's renowned chemists, after a few more years. Semon was hired by B.F. Goodrich to turn this plastic into something more useable. And so, it became what is now the third most widely used worldwide.

One thing people should remember is that like all thermoplastic, PVC can be recycled. While some cities do not accept this particular type of thermoplastic in recycling bins, some towns and cities do allow this as part of their municipal recycling programs. Check with the refuse company in your area and ask if they allow you to place PVC items in your bin.




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