When you need custom formulated or toll-blended vinyl plastisol with proven quality and consistency – and backed by exceptional sales and technical service -- PolyOne is your best source.
PolyOne offers vinyl plastisols for every major industry. These dispersions of PVC resins in plasticizing liquids are enhanced by the addition of heat or light stabilizers, color pigments, flame retardants, blowing agents and other additives required for the intended product.
Vinyl Plastisols are liquid at room temperature and can be poured, pumped, sprayed or cast, depending on the compound. These compounds can range in hardness from fishing lure plastisol with an 8 Durometer Shore A, to rotocasting plastisol (mostly PVC) with a 65 Durometer Shore D.
Advantages of Vinyl Plastisol in coating and molding applications include ease of use and economy.
Dip Coating: When the plastisol coating becomes a functional part of the mold itself, the process is called dip coating. The metal insert may or may not have a requirement for an adhesive primer. Common uses include:
- tool handles and grips
- textiles
- wire grates and baskets
- plating racks
- conveyor hooks
Hot Dipping: By far the most common dip-coating processing technique, hot dipping requires an item to be heated first before immersion into the plastisol. The heat causes the plastisol coating to gel on the hot form.
Cold Dipping: Preheating the metal part is not required; the amount of pickup obtained depends largely on the viscosity and thixotropic ration of the plastisol.
Molding: Several types of molding are common to plastisol applications:
- Slush Molding is used to produce hollow, flexible items by filling a mold with plastisol, heating sufficiently to gel a layer next to the inner mold surface, and then draining the excess plastisol. The gelled layer is then completely fused and stripped from the mold.
- Rotational Molding involves hollow flexible or rigid forms with complex shapes. The process is done using a two-part mold filled with a predetermined weight of plastisol, inserted into a heated oven and rotated on two planes simultaneously.
- Dip Molding refers to the process of dipping a solid mold; gelling, fusing and stripping the hollow part.
- Open Molding is a process of molding directly in, or into, a finished article such as automotive air filters.
All our vinyl plastisols can be custom formulated and certified for end-use automotive, FDA, UL, ASTM, NSF, USDA, military, medical or customer-specific applications.