Page 45 - Eve McCabe

POLYVINYL CHLORIDE (PVC)

MATERIAL SURFACE FINISH; POLYMER

FINISH DESCRIPTION REPLICATION PROCESS

1. 2.
This Clear Blue PVC has a high shine to it, as it is so smooth. A lot of the shine also comes from
the translucent aspect. Even though it is one colour it appears to have many shades of blue
Prime and spray
and a lot of highlights. template blue.

RATIONALE BEHIND CHOICE Ensuring template
+ is as smooth

The high shine of the material drew my intrest. Recreating a polymer takes a lot of attention as possible.
as it is so smooth and free from imperfections. This clear blue PVC I chose has an extra feature
as it is almost translucent and I really wanted to add this to the refrence catalogue if I every
have a see-through aspect to a design.

ATTRIBUTES/ TECHNICAL SPECS 3.

• Excellent tensile strength Painting
• PVC is very dense compared to most plastics making it incredibly strong white lines
• Extremely durable nature and lightweight where light
+ • Readily available and cheap (one of the most commonly used thermoplastic naturally hits
the template.
polymers worldwide)
APPLICATIONS + SAMPLE IMAGES

• Electrical cables insulation
• Imitation leather
• Inflatable Products
• Flooring for hospitals or school
(Needed for a sterile environment)
Final swatch
has two layers

MANUFACTURE PROCESS off a high gloss
finishing spray

PVC is produced by polymerization (linking together single molecules into multiple-unit molecules) to seel the
of the vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). white lines in.
VCM, polymerisation initiators and water are put into a reactor. The contents of the reaction
vessel are pressurized and continually mixed to maintain the suspension and ensure a uniform
particle size of the PVC resin. The reaction is exothermic and thus requires cooling. As the volume
is reduced during the reaction (PVC is denser than VCM), water is continually added to the
mixture to maintain the suspension.