We would like to note that all Vinyl film is mainly created with the same type of basic raw materials, such as Polyvinylchloride (PVC) with other added ingredients like, plasticizer, which makes the film flexible, pigments and UV absorbers, which improves the films resistance against UV radiation. The quality of these ingredients range from high-grade to low-grade.Get more news about vinyl film,you can vist our website!
There are two ways cast and calendared vinyl film is manufactured: cast and calendared, each with it’s advantages. The main important ingredient that produces various types of vinyl film is plasticizer (with and without solvents). It is industry known that the manufacturing technique of casting develops a much better quality film than calendared. So, here are the manufacturing differences between casting and calendared films that make them vary by quality.
Cast Film
Cast film is know industry wide to be “a premium product with excellent durability and conformability” features (1). The first step into making cast film is to have the proper ingredients at hand, known as the formulation. These ingredients are pre-measured and added to a big manufacturing mixing churner that is kept at a set speed for a consistent mixture. The product of this mixture is termed the organosol, which is poured or cast onto a moving web known as a casting sheet, where the sheet is taken through a series of ovens to evaporate any solvents (1). This evaporation process is important as the end result is solid film material with great dimensional stability (1). This type of film is mainly used for customers who request a paint-like finish for their boat, vehicle and/or fleet. The life of this film is estimated around 8+ years, when exposed to outside elements, daily.
Calendared Film
Calendared film is know industry wide as economy film. Calendared film uses the same ingredients as cast film, but, it does not contain solvents (1). The same technique as you would make a pizza in an oven is the same way Calendared film is made (minus the yummy sauce and toppings). The calendared film is put into an oven, where it is heated, changing its state of matter from a solid to a liquid. The next step is “polished steel rolls progressively squeeze and stretch the vinyl into a flat sheet (similar to flattening out dough with a rolling pin)” (1). Since, Calendar Film does not have stabilizers, its manufacturing process creates a state of memory to which, it is less dimensionally stable, so, that if exposed to heat time-after-time it eventually shrinks back to its original form. Calendared films is known to be very inexpensive, since the manufacturing ingredients are low-grade and lack solvents. The life span of calendared film is estimated around 1 – 7 years, when exposed to outside elements, daily.