Vinyl is the second largest
plastic produced all across the world. It is not a natural occurring material
rather it is a synthetic man made material and is widely used in various
applications like printing, making industrial goods and in publishing, as well.
It has numerous features that have made it extremely popular among the masses.
It is resistant to moisture and humidity, manufacturing cost is less,
durability, can be easily recycled and produced in a wide range of different
colors. It is mostly used in construction for making floors and sidings.
Because of its property of easily combining with different various additives
and modifiers making it ideal for the manufacturing of many other different
products.
However, vinyl is of different
types and their uses differ accordingly. Nowadays, reflective vinyl is broadly
used in the market. Depending upon the need and the requirement, reflective
vinyl can be cut into different shapes and sizes and can be used for applying
on any shiny surface. Because of reflective vinyl’s property of having a
reflective base, it is extensively used in making road signs, ambulance,
emergency trucks, street signs, fire trucks, police cars so that it can reflect
the light falling on it especially in the night and the vehicle can be easily
visible in the darkness of night.
There are mainly two types of reflective vinyl, which include retro
reflective vinyl and prismatic vinyl. However, prismatic reflective film is
actually made by layering the small prisms into the face film. In the same way,
from close inspection, these look like tiny pyramid in the vinyl just exactly
like a prism that reflect light by splitting the light into different
fragments. In fact, these slightly reflect back through the film face towards
the viewer resulting in making the sheets more difficult to cut in comparison
to the retro reflective sheet. Therefore, these are best suited for highway
signs as these are capable of reflecting back the light falling on it making
the object visible. On the contrary, retro reflective vinyl is produced by
blending the glass beads into the pigments of the film. These embedded beads
have the property due to which these can easily reflect light when illuminated
hence also known as beaded reflective. Because of the beaded pigments, sheets
are extremely difficult to cut.
Reflective vinyl is also used in
digital printing and is largely used in outdoor banner advertising, event sign
and signage, used in the retail sector at the point of sale or purchase, trade
shows, and last but not the least in personalized direct mail campaigns.
Additionally, it has the property of retouch as well as before printing color
correct photograph. As a matter of fact, it has one of the most significant
characteristics, can be used for personalized printing like wedding photo book.
At the same time, it reflective
vinyl has some advantages and also disadvantages. Some of the advantages are
that it is long lasting, easily visible at night hence best solution for public
sign especially around parking areas. The biggest disadvantage of reflective
vinyl is that is expensive, and it is quite difficult to apply.
