Page 2 - 2018-11-CFR Volume 122 A Smart Guide to PVC Backed Modular Carpet and Vinyl Flooring November 2018

PLEASE NOTE THAT PLASTICIZER IS MECHANICALLY MIXED
WITH THE PVC POLYMER TO FORM THE PLASTISOL. THERE IS
NO CHEMICAL REACTION BETWEEN THE TWO. WHEN THIS MIX-
TURE IS CURED VIA HEATING, SOME OF THE PLASTICIZER IS
DRIVEN OUT WHICH RESTORES A PORTION OF THE ORIGINAL
RIGIDITY OF THE PVC POLYMER AND GIVES THE FLEXIBLE
WORKABLE PVC BACKING THAT IS A FAMILIAR PART OF THE The experts at LGM
FLOORING CONTRACTORS EXPERIENCE. THERE ALWAYS RE-
MAINS A CERTAIN LEVEL OF “FREE” PLASTICIZER IN THIS specialize in consultation, cor-
BACKING. THIS “FREE” PLASTICIZER WILL BE SLOWLY RE- rection and resolution for floor-
LEASED FROM THE BACKING THROUGHOUT THE LIFE OF THE ing complaints, claims, installa-
PRODUCT. THIS RELEASE IS THE PHENOMENA KNOWN AS tion and performance issues.
“PLASTICIZER MIGRATION”
No issue is too big, too small or
PVC is an inherently unstable material. A pure homogeneous PVC film too far away for us to handle.
will grow and shrink with temperature and humidity changes. All PVC
films change dimension over time as the various components that All ads are interactive. Just click
make up the compound seek equilibrium with the environment through on the ad to enter their website.
the migration process noted above. To serve as a viable modular
carpet or vinyl flooring backing, PVC films must be mechanically stabi- We are now posting the
lized usually by the incorporation of multiple layers of a fiberglass
fleece in carpet tile or a stabilizing layer in vinyl floor tile. CFR on LinkedIn. Just click
the image below or search
Essentially all plasticizers under Lew Migliore and
used in the manufacture
of PVC backed flooring let’s connect!!
fall under the general
chemical family known as
“phthalates”. Some work
is also being done on the
use of epoxidized vegeta-
ble oils as a substitute for
phthalate based plasticiz-
ers by some manufactur-
ers. For purposes of safe-
ty, always assume that PLASTICIZER MIGRATION VINYL TILE
the PVC backed material
you are working with has
phthalate type plasticizer.

Plasticizers are manufactured by reacting with a chemical known as
phthalic anhydride with various organic alcohols. The reason that the
installation contractor or anyone else involved or associated with the
installation of these type flooring products should even be concerned
with this is that – under very special conditions - this reaction can be
reversed through a process known as alkaline hydrolysis. This is just a
fancy way of saying that the material can be broken down by the ac-
tion of water in a high pH environment. This can happen when PVC

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2 Commercial Flooring Report November 2018