What is the difference between polyester, polypropylene, and vinyl film bases?
Polyester films, like USI OptiClear, are clearer and a higher quality than lower grade films, which tend to be foggy. Premium films also endure extreme environments and severe stress conditions more favorably. Films with higher polyester content are more rigid and feel thicker than films with more adhesive content. Polypropylene film is softer than polyester, but still has excellent clarity. These films have strong chemical resistence, good color stability over printed sheets, and good elasticity which allows the film to lay extremely flat. Due to its softness and flatness, polypropylene films are most often used in single-sided laminating. Vinyl films have greater elasticity than polyester films. The softer, more flexible vinyl laminates extremely well to flexible surfaces such as vinyls. This extra ability to stretch makes them favorites for documents that need to be continually rolled like nautical maps and blueprints.