Plastisols adhere well to natural fibers, such as cotton, which makes them a very suitable fabric coating. Synthetic fibers usually require adhesive additives/primers for proper adhesion. Since a thin to thick coating of plastisol may be applied with one pass on fabric, this makes plastisol a cost competitive choice vs other processes that require solvent and/or multiple passes to build-up the thickness. Lakeside Polymer Services has a number of proprietary adhesive aids, formulations, and extensive experience to help the fabric coater obtain and improve proper substrate adhesion.
Proper formulation will allow for
- Desired coat thickness
- Chemical resistance
- Soft hand
- Exterior applications
- Desired color
- Processing variation:
- spread coating
- knife coating
- One of the simplest forms to coat a flat sheet of vinyl from plastisol. A stationary knife sets the distance between the coating blade and the fabric/web, which controls the amount of plastisol for the coating thickness.
- roll coating
- Liquid is supplied to two rollers that travel in the same direction as the fabric/web. Since plastisols are higher in viscosity, controlling the level of coating weight can be challenging. To help control the coating weight, reverse roll coating is commonly utilized.
- reverse roll coating
- Typical reverse roll coating utilizes three rolls. The plastisol is metered through a precise nip between a metering roll and an applicator roll rotating in the opposite direction. The plastisol coating on the applicator roll is then transferred onto the fabric/web. When properly set, reverse roll coating can handle a plastisol viscosity with a wide range.
- curtain coating
- spray coating
- saturation
