The key difference between PVC and PVDC is that PVC is made of chloroethene monomers, whereas PVDC material is made of vinylidene chloride.PVDC contains twice the amount of chlorine as PVC and exhibits higher barrier and flame retardancy performance.
Ixan® PVDC and Diofan® PVDC differ by their polymerisation process. Diofan® PVDC results from a polymerization in emulsion and is therefore available as an aqueous dispersion. It is dedicated to coating applications. Ixan® PVDC is produced by suspension radical polymerization and is sold as a fine powder. This powder is mainly used for extrusion applications.
Ixan® PVDC premix refers to formulated PVDC material created by dry blending Ixan® base resin with various additives in order to achieve special properties or specific performances.
The best oxygen barrier that can be achieved with an extrudable Ixan® PVDC resin is 5 cc/m².day.bar for 10µm film and a water vapor barrier of 1.5 g/m².day.bar for the same thickness of PVDC. But of course, the barrier level can be adapted to the application, The barrier of the film depends on the total structure (influence of other layers), the thickness of the PVDC layer and the temperature; it is not influenced by the level of humidity and is not impacted by retort treatment.
The extrusion of Ixan® PVDC is unlike most other polymers. If you have equipment designed for the extrusion of commodity polymers, e.g. polyolefins, PVC, PET, etc., then it is doubtful that you will be successful by simply substituting Ixan® PVDC. However, while extrusion with Ixan® PVDC is different, it is not difficult! PVDC extrusion has been practiced commercially for well over half a century, the technical requirements are well understood, and the proper equipment needed for success in day‐to‐day production is readily available. Please contact your Syensqo representative for more details or consult the Ixan® PVDC processing guide.