Plastisols are relatively stable fluid dispersions of finely divided plastic resin particles in a liquid plasticizer with a small amount of diluent (solvent).
Further additives are introduced to the plastisols, such as fillers, pigments, adhesion promoters, rheology auxiliaries (separation inhibitors), heat stabilizers, blowing agents, reactive (capable of cross-linking) additives, and water-absorbing substances (calcium oxide).
Hollow glass microsphere fillers are mainly used to reduce density while also providing viscosity control, sag, and impart thixotropy to the unfluxed plastisol solution increasing shelf life of low density seam sealers. Plastisol based automobile coatings and seam sealers must meet rigid standards set by various automobile manufacturing companies. A very important requirement for plastisol coatings is that they be lightweight.
As plastisol manufacturers strive for lighter and hence more fuel efficient vehicles, hollow glass microspheres has become a crucial part of the plastisol formulations as key raw material filler. Hollow glass microspheres in plastisols are described in detail in this chapter.
This article comes from sciencedirect edit released
