VOCs evaporation rate from a poly(vinyl chloride) matrix and its impact over interior's atmospheric composition

With the increase in the market's requirement level and the incited dispute for the consumers, the automotive industry has given special attention to the customer's perceived quality. One of the aspects related to the quality perception is the "new car's smell." The trend, shown by the market, is to control this characteristic in a subjective way, by means of especially trained panel. This paper aims at analyzing this question by another point of view, leaving the subjectivity and searching to characterize the new car's smell in an analytical and concrete way. It was shown that the main VOCs contained in a poly(vinyl chloride) matrix are 2-butanone, acetic acid ethyl ester, toluene, acetic acid butyl ester, cyclohexanone and 1-hydroxycumene. The evaporation rate of the VOCs was studied and its impact in atmospheric global composition evaluated.