article Cleaning PVC, especially for applications that run on high-voltage (HV) power, can be a hassle for the home.
But there are ways to tackle this problem with a few simple steps, according to a study published online Monday by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.”PVC is a ubiquitous material,” said lead author Ankit Pandey, a Ph.
D. candidate in electrical engineering and computer science.
“It is an extremely common component in consumer electronics, even in appliances and the like.”
So why does it get so messy?
One reason is that PVC, unlike most other materials, does not absorb moisture.
When a PVC-covered device gets wet, it condenses into a fluid.
When it gets cold, the fluid becomes a solid and solidifies into a liquid.
When heated, it solidifies and solidify into an ice-like substance.
“We know that PVC is a water-repellent material, but we don’t really understand the mechanisms by which this water-like solid form takes place,” said Pandey.
The researchers looked at the behavior of a protein called a siderophore, which sits in a watery mixture and allows water molecules to pass through it.
When water gets into the protein, the protein’s ability to remove the water is weakened.
“This has implications for cleaning the PVC from your product, because it’s much more difficult to remove PVC from a water solution than from a warm water solution,” said co-author Jason Rabinowitz, a postdoctoral researcher in electrical and computer engineering.
The problem is compounded by the fact that most PVC-containing products do not contain enough sideroplastics to effectively remove the contaminants.
Pipes and pipes with sideroped polyethylene, for example, contain about 1.5 times more sideropsthan those without.
This makes PVC a poor choice for cleaning in applications that require continuous use.
But, the researchers suggest, there are a few other options.
The most obvious would be to add a porous layer of plastic, such as a polyethylenimine plastic, which would act as a sponge and remove the PVC.
Another solution is to use PVC as a lubricant for the water.
When used in this way, the plastic layer absorbs the water and acts as a barrier.
And the researchers say it’s possible to combine this with a water purification system to remove contaminants from the PVC-based products.PVC-free solutions also seem to be effective at removing the chlorine, carbon monoxide and other harmful compounds that can build up in the environment.
But the researchers are not sure if this would be the case in PVC-free products, and the potential of this approach is limited by the materials used.
“It’s a matter of doing more studies,” Rabinow said.
But there are promising applications in other areas of the world, as well.
“You can get rid of the water pollution from your tap, or from your toilet, or your shower, or whatever,” he said.
“So it could potentially be a really viable option.”
