The benefits of PVC as a material

PVC is being used more and more in many industries and is even starting to replace building materials such as concrete, metal and wood. Many in the construction industry praise its cost-effectiveness and versatility of use - so it should come as no surprise that construction accounted for 60% of PVC use in Europe in 2006. 

The versatility of PVC means it has many uses, such as cables, flooring foils, pipes, window frames, plastic curtains and wall coverings to name but a few. Not only is it lighter and less expensive than other building materials, but it also has many performance advantages as well, such as:

Cost-effectiveness

PVC has many physical and technical properties which provide you with many cost-saving advantages, not least the fact that it is very competitively priced as a material and it is durable and low maintenance as well.

Durability

PVC is naturally resistant to chemical rotting, corrosion, shock and abrasion, and weathering. It is therefore ideal to use to manufacture many different long-life products, such as polar grade kits, which are ideal for constant sub-zero temperatures such as freezers. 

Easy to install

PVC is lightweight which can reduce manual handling difficulties and so can be cut, shaped, and welded into a variety of styles.

Fire Resistant

This is not to say that PVC is fireproof, it will burn when exposed to fire. However, PVC products themselves are self-extinguishing so if the source of the fire is withdrawn the PVC product will stop burning. The high chlorine content of PVC also means it is difficult to ignite, with comparatively low heat production and they will tend to char rather than generate flaming droplets. 

Good Insulation

PVC is a fantastic thermal insulator due to its water and airtight qualities. This makes it a fantastic material to use if you are looking for high thermal energy savings while increasing your employee's comfort. This great bar chart from Extruflex shows the thermal conductivity of various materials and shows just how effective at insulating PVC is.

Strength and weight

PVC has good mechanical strength and toughness which makes it quite dense and heavy, but it is still a great product to use in a variety of applications.

Safety

PVC is non-toxic which makes it a safe material to use, which is backed up by over half a century's research and testing. PVC meets all international safety standards for applications and products.

Versatility

The many physical properties of PVC which we have outlined above, show that designers who use this material have a much higher degree of freedom to develop new solutions.

Hopefully, this gives you some indication as to why PVC is our material of choice for our strip curtains. To see our full range of strip curtains please check out our website. If you have any questions, our friendly team are standing by to help.