What is Vinyl?
Vinyl (polyvinyl chloride or PVC), is the world’s most versatile plastic, used to make everything from clothing to vehicle signage. Vinyl is composed of two simple building blocks: chlorine and ethylene, in simple terms you could say it is a salt and oil mixture!
The resulting compound, ethylene dichloride, is converted at very high temperatures to vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) gas. Through the chemical reaction known as polymerisation, VCM becomes a chemically stable powder, polyvinyl chloride resin. This material is then used to make the various consumer products that we all enjoy including sign making vinyl sheet or film.
Vinyl’s low cost, versatility and performance make it the material of choice for dozens of industries such as health care, communications, aerospace, automotive, retailing, textiles and construction. Rigid as pipe or pliable as plastic wrap, vinyl is a leading material of the 21st century.
Why is vinyl so popular?
PVC is a fantastic creative medium. Its versatility makes it a popular choice for use by designers, many of whom welcome a modern alternative to traditional materials such as ceramic, metal and glass.
PVC’s qualities of being available in many rigid and flexible forms, both durable and light weight, as well as its ability to be coloured, shaped or applied with adhesives, give designers opportunities that they would not have using any other material. Plasticized PVC is also used to produce thin, coloured, or clear, adhesive backed films referred to simply as vinyl that are used to create commercial signage or garment vinyl designs.
Vinyl and the environment
According to the European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM) vinyl is safe in disposal due to the inherent stability of the material. This property however is one of the reasons why the material is not suited to disposal in landfill and is better suited to reprocessing, re-use in a modified form or as a reclaimed energy source. Here is what Dr. Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, thinks about the environmental benefits of PVC/vinyl materials.
