What is the Impact Resistance of PVC Foil?

PVC foil has good impact resistance. Its performance varies depending on factors such as material type, application scenario, and preparation process, compared with other types of films, such as PET, PE, etc. But overall, the impact resistance of PVC film is more stable. Next, we will explain in detail the performance differences between them and why PVC film has more stable impact resistance.

PVC film VS PET film

At normal temperatures, the impact resistance of PVC foil is usually more stable than that of PET foil, which is mainly related to the molecular structure, material properties, and use of plasticizers of the two materials. The reasons are as follows:

Molecular structure of materials

• PVC (polyvinyl chloride): The polar chlorine atoms on the PVC molecular chain provide a higher cohesive force, which makes the material have good flexibility, which leads to a certain elasticity of the material, can buffer the impact force, and make the material not easy to break.
• PET (polyethylene terephthalate): Its molecular chains are arranged tightly and regularly, and its molecular structure has high rigidity and strength, so it has good strength and rigidity. However, at normal temperatures, its flexibility is not as good as PVC, and it is more prone to brittle fracture when subjected to impact.

Plasticizer effect

• PVC foil: Plasticizers can weaken the force between molecular chains and increase the flexibility of the material. Under impact, plasticizer helps the molecular chain move, thereby absorbing and dispersing the impact energy, so that the PVC film has a greater “buffering” effect when it is impacted, preventing the material from becoming brittle or breaking.
• PET foil: Plasticizers are usually not used in PET film, which makes its molecular structure more rigid. Under external force impact, PET film has no room for flexible adjustment, so it shows greater brittleness.

Temperature influence

• PVC film: Its molecular structure can still maintain a certain flexibility within the normal temperature range so PVC foil has good impact absorption capacity at various temperatures.
• PET film: The impact resistance of PET foil is more dependent on temperature, especially at lower temperatures, PET foil will become more fragile.

Stress dispersion ability

• PVC film: PVC molecules have a certain elasticity. When impacted, PVC film can disperse stress to a larger area through its flexibility, avoid local stress concentration, and thus maintain stable impact resistance.
• PET film: Due to its high rigidity, PET foil is prone to stress concentration at the stress point. This stress concentration will accelerate the local destruction of the material and lead to unstable impact resistance.

PVC film VS PE film

PE film is a semi-crystalline material, and its molecular structure contains crystalline and amorphous regions. This structure makes PE film highly flexible. Its molecular chain is long and highly flexible, which means that it can absorb energy through the movement of molecular chains when it is impacted. This flexibility makes PE film have excellent impact absorption capacity.

In addition, the molecular structure of PE film is not polar, and the interaction between molecular chains is weak, which makes it highly ductile and deformable. When impacted, PE film can absorb impact energy through large deformation and reduce the risk of damage.

Therefore, PE film can withstand large stretching and deformation capacity and also has excellent tear resistance. This makes PE film punctured or damaged under certain conditions, and it is not easy to tear from the damaged point. Therefore, its toughness is worse than PVC film, but its rigidity and hardness are not as good as PVC film, and its performance is better in low-temperature environments, so it is usually suitable for packaging and protective materials in frozen and low-temperature environments.

In a room temperature environment, the performance of PVC film is relatively long-lasting, even after a long time or repeated impact, it is not easily damaged by accumulated impact force, it can still maintain a good shape and complete structure, and will not easily deform.