Polyvinyl chloride
synthetic plastic polymer - A thermoplastic resin produced by the polymerization of vinyl chloride gas.
Polyvinyl chloride, alternatively poly(vinyl chloride), colloquially vinyl or polyvinyl, abbreviated PVC, is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic polymer of plastic (after polyethylene and polypropylene). About 40 million tons of PVC are produced each year.
PVC comes in rigid (sometimes abbreviated as RPVC) and flexible forms. Rigid PVC is used in construction for pipes, doors, and windows. It is also used in making plastic bottles, packaging, and bank or membership cards. Adding plasticizers makes PVC softer and more flexible. It is used in plumbing, electrical cable insulation, flooring, signage, phonograph records, inflatable products, and rubber substitutes. With cotton or linen, it is used in the production of canvas.
Polyvinyl chloride is a white, brittle solid. It is soluble in ketones, chlorinated solvents, dimethylformamide, THF and DMAc.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Polyvinyl chloride” as synthetic plastic polymer - A thermoplastic resin produced by the polymerization of vinyl chloride gas. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q146368. The Library of Congress control number is sh85104742. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Polyvinyl chloride” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.