PVC wall panels are a common material for wall decoration in modern homes and commercial spaces. For homeowners or designers who are familiar with home decoration, PVC wall panels may not be unfamiliar. But do you know how to identify the quality of these PVC wall panels? Or, do you know what methods can be used to distinguish their quality differences?
Reading this article can provide you with some useful help.
Judging the quality of PVC wall panels requires a combination of multiple factors, including its material composition, surface treatment, structural stability, environmental protection, processing accuracy, installation advantages, product performance, etc.
You can follow the steps below to distinguish:
First, the most basic way to judge the quality of PVC wallboard is to observe its appearance. Generally, high-quality PVC wallboard has a smooth surface without obvious bumps or warping. Place it on a horizontal table and look straight ahead to check its flatness. Or, for further confirmation, you can use a steel ruler to place it flat on the wallboard. If there is no obvious imbalance at both ends of the steel ruler, the wallboard preliminarily meets one of the high-quality conditions.
Secondly, carefully observe the consistency of color and texture with your eyes. The surface color of high-quality PVC sheets is uniform, the texture is visible, and there is no obvious color difference or cracks. In addition, a large area test should be conducted to check whether there are bubbles or looseness on the surface. The PVC film on the surface of high-quality PVC wallboards fits tightly to the substrate, and the cross-section position of the PVC film also fits well (PVC wallboards with concave and convex textures need to pay more attention to check the cross-section position).
Finally, check the adhesion between the PVC film and the substrate. Use a knife to scratch a line along the surface of the PVC wallboard, and see if the film on the surface is easy to tear apart in the middle of the scratch. Generally speaking, profiles coated with PVC film using hot melt adhesive have better adhesion and are not easy to tear or separate.
The appearance observation method cannot fully judge the quality of PVC wallboards, and further judgment is required in combination with physical testing methods.
Impact resistance: High-quality PVC wallboards are not easy to dent or crack when subjected to external impact. Generally, the material density of PVC wallboards is between 0.65 and 1.1. The higher the density, the better the tightness between material molecules, the higher the hardness, and the stronger the impact resistance.
If the test conditions are limited, you can use your fingernails to apply pressure on the cross section of the PVC wallboard to observe whether the substrate is prone to dents (substrates that are prone to dents have low material density and poor impact resistance).
Of course, in order to obtain more accurate data, you can take a small piece of PVC wallboard sample, calculate its area and volume data, and record it. Then use its density = mass/volume (ρ=m/V) to calculate.
If you happen to get samples from different suppliers, this method will help you quickly determine which one is of better quality.
Scratch resistance: Use a key, ruler, or hard object to repeatedly scratch the surface of the wallboard to check whether the PVC film on the surface is damaged. High-quality wallboards are covered with a scratch-resistant protective film, which can maintain the integrity of the finish and protect the substrate from damage even in scenes with high traffic or frequent use.
Bending resistance: stack bricks on the left and right sides, place the PVC wallboard flat on the bricks, and place weights of different weights on its surface one by one to observe whether it bends or breaks.
High-quality wallboard has high bending resistance and flexibility. It is not easy to bend when subjected to external pressure.
Dimensional stability: Place the wall panel in different temperature environments, observe and record its dimensional stability at different temperatures. High-quality wallboard will not easily deform, expand, or shrink at room temperature (except at extreme temperatures).
Through appearance observation and physical performance testing, we can basically determine whether the wallboard meets our initial screening criteria. However, we still cannot know whether its material has flame retardant properties and whether it will release harmful gases. Therefore, we also need to test its fire resistance and environmental performance to help us make further judgments.
Flame retardant test: Take a small piece of PVC wallboard and burn it with a lighter (about 10 to 20 seconds), observe its burning speed, and whether the fire source on the wallboard automatically extinguishes when the burning stops. We all know that for materials used indoors, their fire resistance is particularly important. Therefore, high-quality wallboards usually add flame retardants to ensure that their flame retardant performance reaches at least the B1 level.
Formaldehyde emission detection: Place the board in a climate chamber, let it stand for 24 hours, and use a detector to detect the formaldehyde concentration in the air. High-quality boards usually do not release formaldehyde, or the formaldehyde release is within a reasonable standard.
TVOC emission test: Similarly, a small piece of PVC wallboard is placed in a climate chamber. After standing for 24 hours, a gas collector is used to collect the released TVOC gas sample, and then the specific composition and concentration are analyzed by instruments.
The lower the TVOC emission, the more environmentally friendly the wallboard is and will not cause indoor air pollution.
Connect two wall panels that have been grooved (male and female). Check the tightness of the joint to ensure a smooth connection. High-quality PVC wall panels should have no visible gaps or looseness at the joints.
Aging resistance test: Use a UV aging box to test the PVC wall panels. Set the temperature and humidity conditions of the actual project site, observe and record surface changes at different time points, including any discoloration, powdering, cracking, delamination, or loss of strength.
After the aging resistance test, the smaller the surface change of high-quality PVC wall panels, the stronger the durability.
Weathering test: Use a xenon arc aging test chamber or a UV aging test chamber to simulate the temperature, humidity, sunlight and other factors in the actual application scenario of the project, observe and record the changes in the surface of the wallboard at different time points, and determine whether it has fading, delamination, warping, cracking and other phenomena.
High-quality PVC wall panel has excellent weathering resistance and are not prone to surface or structural changes at room temperature.
Fault phenomenon | Reason |
Warping and deformation | The materials are not mixed evenly, or the calcium powder content is too high |
Easy to break | The resin powder is of poor quality, or the calcium powder ratio is too high |
Easy to fade and yellow | Use low-quality PVC or no UV inhibitor |
Pungent odor | Use recycled materials or inferior additives |
Edges prone to cracking | Low substrate density |
By following the steps above, you can quickly and accurately determine the quality of your PVC wall panels.
As we all know, the quality of wall panels directly affects their durability and also affects the progress of your project. Therefore, by choosing CREATEKING wall panels, you can completely avoid these potential problems.
CREATEKING is a well-known Chinese PVC wall panel manufacturer with more than 27 years of R&D and manufacturing experience. We offer a variety of wall panel types and finishes. If you would like to learn more about our interior wall panels, please feel free to contact us!
