Summary: | The purpose of this paper was to obtain certain PVC films with improved hygienic properties, with applications both in the artificial leather industry and in other domains. This was done by introducing certain hydrophilic auxiliaries with free chemical functions into the chemical structure of the PVC films, such as: collagen hydrolysates (CH), hydroxyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (HTPDMS) and nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE). The use of these hydrophilic auxiliaries combined with the action of the high frequency electric fields (H.F.E.F.) allows the attainment of cellular structures where the walls of the cells obtained from the expanding process display an enhanced humidity absorption. The collagen hydrolysates used to obtain the plasticized PVC porous films was obtained by electrolytic hydrolysis starting from Chamois leather powder waste resulting from buffing operation, according to a methodology described in a previous paper. The first part of this study was concerned with the influence of the addition of hydrophilic agents upon the moisture sorption of the plasticized PVC porous films. In this paper, there was investigated the water vapour and air permeability as well as the water vapour absorption of the porous films expanded in the H.F.E.F. in correlation with the nature and the recipe variant of the hydrophilic auxiliaries. The results highlighted the fact that the use of certain combinations of hydrophilic agents led to obtaining materials with adequate hygienic properties.
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