Polyvinylchloride is an amorphous thermoplastic synthetic material which is soft, malleable and suitable for technical applications because of its additives. PVC can be inked well and is well-known for its use in window profiles, pipes and cable insulations. Like all synthetic materials, PVC is a good insulator, hardly takes in any water and is resistant to alcohol, acids, lyes, oil and petrol.
Almost 40% of PVC applications are used in the building sector. Pipes don’t clog easily due to the smooth inside, window profiles are easy to clean, low-maintenance, and weather-proof and can be produced in all sorts of colors and shapes. Heavy inflammable products like cable channels are also produced from PVC.
PVC is chemically very stable and hardly rots. It reaction to sunlight is only slightly corrosive leaving the mechanical characteristics unaffected. Products and packaging made from PVC are resistant to constant seawater and air and have no effect on the environment as deposited rubbish. For PVC products such as pipes, frames and windows, there are full-coverage take back systems in the synthetic material processing industry, so that environmental damage in the municipal rubbish disposal can be considerably reduced.
Furthermore, it is possible to reuse PVC waste and to insert it in new products as recycling material. Approx. eighty per cent of new PVC had to be mixed in early production years, whereas one can produce material nowadays with about seventy per cent high-quality and qualitatively good recycled synthetic material. An advantage of this recycling method is that by processing it at less than 200 degrees centigrade, no high emissions are produced.