High Gloss Look Taking Over PVC Plastic
The world has an insatiable appetite for all things fashionable, and plastic
is no exception. The current challenge facing
Plastic Manufacturers is to
deliver products to the market that meet not only practical needs but also look
good in terms of what is currently “in”.
The trend at the moment in plastics is for a high-gloss finish even in unlikely
products such as extruded PVC profiles. These are used extensively by the
building and construction, marine and mining industries, all of which are
currently demanding ever higher levels of gloss.
To understand how this is achieved requires a quick lesson on plastics
extrusion. Basically, this is a high volume process in which raw plastic is
melted under controlled conditions into a continuous profile and therefore is
particularly suitable for producing piping, tubing, adhesive tape, wire
insulation, window frames and other elongated-type items.
There is a surprising fact in the understanding of how a high gloss surface is
achieved. Gloss is actually just a visual impression created by the amount of
light that is reflected from a surface - the more light that is reflected, the
higher the level of gloss. To the uninitiated, this seems implausible as most
people would think that gloss is a result of some surface coating being applied
to an item to make it shine, a bit like floor polish.
In the plastics industry, this gloss finish is dependent on the surface
structure of the product under manufacture and requires control of the melt
formulation and the melt strength. There are a number of procedural factors that
affect both of these components of the process including the melt temperature,
degree of fusion and molecular weight. Low melt strength in the formulation can
produce low extruded profile gloss. High molecular weight allows for higher melt
strength which produces high gloss surface structures.
Surface finish is an important part of the buying decision for extruded profiles
such as window and door frames, and while these products can be purchased in
both a matte and glossy finish, the general market trend worldwide is away from
matte and solidly towards very glossy surfaces, which look fantastic and are
much easier to clean.
PVC Plastic, through careful control of the manufacturing process as described
above, is readily adaptable to these changes in consumer taste. There is no
additional machinery required or extensive changes to the manufacturing process,
making it the ideal material for quick responses to the fickle fashions of
today.