ELECTRICAL-CONDUCTIVITY OF MODIFIED POLY(VINYL CHLORIDE)

Chemical modification of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) by dehydrochlorina tion with ethanolic KOH is found to yield modified PVC with conjugated polyene sequence. The semiconducting nature of ethoxide-modified PVC is illustrated with temperature dependence of conductivity (sigma). Th e relative ratios (r) of conductivity, sigma(modified PVC)/sigma(unmod ified PVC), are greater than unity in the temperature range 50-degrees - to 180-degrees-C, r being maximum in the vicinity of glass-transitio n temperature (T(g)). T(g) inferred from conductivity-temperature prof iles is found to be greater for modified PVC relative to unmodified PV C, which is explicable in terms of restricted free rotation limiting s egmental motion. For comparison with the conductivity and T(g) of etho xide-modified PVC, LiCl-modified PVC and (aniline + S2O82-)-modified P VC have also been studied.