Styrene vs Sintra, what's the difference?

[858Graphics]

Ok I am not a complete newbie and don't need people flaming me for asking what might be considered a stupid question.

We have 15 people working at our office, most of them have been in the sign industry for more than five years.

If I give them a thin piece of plastic that isn't shiny like acrylic and ask them what it is I get one of two responses.

It's PVC sintra
It's Styrene

When I call our vendor and place orders they let me use the two terms interchangeably. So what's the difference and how should I describe each product?

 

[Techman]

PVC sintra is a closed cell foam product. It is not as dense and hard surfaced as solid acrylic.

Styrene is the clear sheet stuff as used in CD cases. Or an expanded foam product such as foam beads in coolers.

Two different products.

 

[gabagoo]

White Styrene sucks!!! the stuff always turns yellowish over time. Prefer PVC

 

[ChaseO]

Styrene can also be white, and when thin enough, gets rolled up. You will never get PVC (sintra) to roll up in any thickness. Your supplier allowing you to interchange the terms more than likely knows what you mean rather than correcting you.

 

[gabagoo]

i bought a 16" sheet of pvc last week and it does roll

 

[TimToad]

I hate styrene because of the static it always
seems to generate. We get 1mm Sintra all the time. It prints well, rolls to a certain degree but is kind of too soft to not scratch easily.

 

[858Graphics]

Thank you everyone for the great answers! I promise to never mistake the two again.

 

[gabagoo]

i bought a 16" sheet of pvc last week and it does roll

sorry I meant 1/16" roll...from Grimco

 

[synergy_jim]

styrene is a good choice up to .125. But its never a good choice outside due to yellowing.

I've found that styrene is great for indoor signage and is very cost effective ( cheaper than PVC ) until you hit that 3mm / .125 barrier and then PVC costs less.

 

[gnubler]

Bumping this old thread. For interior signage being attached to a wall, are PVC and polystyrene both good choices? Is polystyrene less prone to denting/cracking?
My customer attached some PVC signs to a wall with double face tape and a couple of them hit the ground and cracked.

Looking for some other economical options for a temporary exhibit display.

 

[Boudica]

We use both quite a bit. Sintra is not good for outdoors because it will warp in the hot sun. For outdoor signage if they want something better than coro, but not as heavy or $$ as ACM, I will recommend .060" HIPS (high intensity poly styrene). It's also good for indoor signs. We use .020", .030", .040" and .060". Temporary, and on a wall I'd use the .020". If it's a dark colored wall go a little thicker.

 

[GaSouthpaw]

PVC is the material. Sintra is a brand name. PVC Sintra is redundant.

 

[gnubler]

We use both quite a bit. Sintra is not good for outdoors because it will warp in the hot sun. For outdoor signage if they want something better than coro, but not as heavy or $$ as ACM, I will recommend .060" HIPS (high intensity poly styrene). It's also good for indoor signs. We use .020", .030", .040" and .060". Temporary, and on a wall I'd use the .020". If it's a dark colored wall go a little thicker.

Thanks for the input. This is for interior use only. I'm going to order some sample polystyrene prints from Firesprint to compare to PVC. My customer suffered damaged pieces within one day of use...ugh. It's almost as delicate as foam core.

 

[Boudica]

Thanks for the input. This is for interior use only. I'm going to order some sample polystyrene prints from Firesprint to compare to PVC. My customer suffered damaged pieces within one day of use...ugh. It's almost as delicate as foam core.

Not sure why I went on about outdoor use... I was tired last night - long day. PVC shouldn't just crack from falling off a wall, what thickness is it?
If you can, get samples of the polystyrene in different thicknesses... it will be handy to show to your customers. I frequently need to dig out examples of each size to show customers and let them feel it.

 

[Gino]

How is using double-sided tape considered temporary ?? You'll have a mess when ya take it down, specially if it's dry wall. Pins or tacking would be better

 

[gnubler]

Not sure why I went on about outdoor use... I was tired last night - long day. PVC shouldn't just crack from falling off a wall, what thickness is it?
If you can, get samples of the polystyrene in different thicknesses... it will be handy to show to your customers. I frequently need to dig out examples of each size to show customers and let them feel it.

3mm. Customer handled the installation, so it's out of my hands but I'm wondering if polystyrene is more durable. I've had 3mm PVC break on me in the shop during production, it's pretty fragile.

Been trying to get the Firesprint sample pack of materials but something's buggy with the checkout, it doesn't let me add it to my cart. Will try again on the next order.

 

[gnubler]

How is using double-sided tape considered temporary ?? You'll have a mess when ya take it down, specially if it's dry wall. Pins or tacking would be better

Good point. They didn't want to drill holes in the signs or the wall so I suggested double face tape. Oops.
What type/size of tacks would work well with 3mm PVC?

 

[Gino]

Map pins should work just fine. Leaves a hole so small.

 

[Gino]

???

 

[netsol]

How is using double-sided tape considered temporary ?? You'll have a mess when ya take it down, specially if it's dry wall. Pins or tacking would be better

I'VE NEVER USED THEM, but what about those stupid COMMAND STRIPS
WALMART has a huge area of the command strips removable for DORM ROOMS & RENTALS, ETC
for truly temporary these might be the way to go
you pull one corner and stretch the strip and it comes off with no residue AT LEAST IN THE COMMERCIAL