Foam board and foam products are inexpensive and versatile, and that is why they are so popular in the sign and digital graphics industry. From pop-up displays and exhibits to dimensional signage, foam fuels people’s creativity.
发泡板产品便宜且通用，因此它们在标识行业中非常受欢迎。从弹出式展示展览到立体标牌，发泡板作为可塑性材料一直在激发着标识专业人员的创造力，去制造更多个性化标识。
High-density urethane started getting popular in the 1990s as a replacement for wood. This foam product can be CNC routed and painted, and it is much easier to work with because it is so much lighter than wood, says Brad Burnett, HDU sales representative for DUNA USA Inc., which makes CORAFOAM. It is also waterproof because water can’t be absorbed into it, which makes it perfect for outdoor uses.
在20世纪90年代，高密度聚氨酯发泡板开始变得流行，从而替代了木材的使用。HDU公司的销售代表Brad Burnett说：“这种发泡板可以进行雕刻和涂漆，它不但比木材轻得多，而且还更加容易使用，同时，它还具有防水的功能，这使得它非常适合用于户外的标牌制作。”
Wood comes in thin sheets that then must be laminated together and planed down. Foam is “ready to work right away,” he says. With wood, you have to be careful of the wood grain, but with HDU, there is no grain. “The dimensional capabilities of being able to customize it are much greater. It cuts and carves like butter.”
木材薄，必须层压在一起，铺平使用，还得小心木纹，但使用高密度聚氨酯发泡板，能够像黄油一样将它任意切割或雕刻，制订它的尺寸，可塑性非常强。
Most people use DUNA’s foam for exterior and interior signs. They use them in monument signs, channel letters, fascia signs, address plaques, golf course signage, hanging signs and signs that are hung between posts. CORAFOAM does have to be painted.
大多数客户都使用DUNA公司的高密度聚氨酯发泡板来做外部或内部的标识。例如：纪念碑标识，槽型发光字、地址匾、高尔夫球场标牌，悬挂在柱子之间的标识等。
CORAFOAM was invented for the sign industry 20 years ago and the formulation has never been changed -- and it never will, says Burnett.
Burnett说：“高密度聚氨酯发泡板是20年前为标识行业专门制造的。”
“The stuff is very strong and very smooth, which is also a benefit. It produces chips instead of dust when it is cut on a machine. Chips and shavings are much nicer to work around; no dust clouds everywhere,” he says.
高密度聚氨酯发泡板结实而光滑，这是它的一个优点。当它在机器上进行切割时，产生的是芯片，而不是灰尘。
CORAFOAM starts out as a liquid. Two different chemicals are poured together into a trough. When they mix together, the chemicals begin to foam up. The foam is produced using continuous manufacturing that creates a 200-yard-long, 12-inch block of foam.
高密度聚氨酯发泡板的形成是将一种液体和两种不同的化学物品一起倒入槽中，当它们混合在一起时，化学品开始发泡，通过连续生产的，形成了200码长的12英寸泡沫块。
“The benefit of doing it this way is the cells are much tighter together and produces the characteristics people really like about our board,” he says.
这样做的好处是，能将发泡板中的活性细胞更紧凑在一起，从而能塑造成客户喜欢的样子。
“Not too many people are using wood anymore. Most have switched to these products,” Burnett says.
Burnett说：“现在没有几乎没有人会使用木材了，大多数标识制造商都已经切换到这种材料。”
The downside to this business is that it isn’t the easiest thing to get into. Shops need a CNC machine or a sandblaster to start. If not, they can outsource the CNC machining and then they can finish the sign with paint.
标识商店需要数控机床或喷砂机才能开启业务，如果没有，他们可以外包出去进行加工，然后再涂上油漆来完成标识。
“A lot of the shops we are gunning for are using other materials. They already have a router but they are not familiar with HDU,” he says.
很多标识商店在制作标识时都在使用其他材料，有的标识商店拥有各种设备，但他们却不熟悉高密度聚氨酯发泡板。
DUNA has been in the United States since 2001 and its sales are “doing really well,” says Burnett. “It is not easy to get sign makers to switch (materials) but little by little we are chipping away and it is working.”
Burnett说：“自2001年以来，DUNA材料在美国的销售额一直很好，让标识制造商切换其他材料并不容易，我们正在一点一点地削减这种材料的使用。”
Foam board typically comes with different surfaces, sandwiched around foam.
发泡板通常带有不同的表面，夹在泡沫之间。
“It is extremely lightweight and relatively inexpensive compared to other options, such as wood veneer products and PVCs,” says Bill Vanhorn, director of sales for The Gilman Brothers Company.
Gilman Brothers 公司的销售总监Bill Vanhorn说：“与其它的材料相比，发泡板非常轻巧，相对便宜，例如PVC发泡板。”
What sets Gilman’s foam board apart from the competition is that it is about 2.5 times more dense, so it cuts better, he says. Because of its density, shops can use a drag knife or high-speed computerized cutter on it and it doesn’t create a mess.
Gilman Brothers公司制作的泡沫板与竞争对手的区别在于，发泡板的密度比其他家的产品高出大约2.5倍，密度越大，材质越好。基于密度，标识商店可以使用拖刀或高速电脑切割机对它进行操作，不会造成混乱的情况。
The biggest benefit of Gilman’s foam board is the flexibility of the adhesive it uses to attach the styrene onto the foam. It can be sliced in such a way that the board can be folded into 3-dimensional displays.
Gilman Brothers公司制作的泡沫板，其最大优点是，能将粘合剂粘附上去，具有灵活性，它可以以多样的方式切片，使发泡板能折叠成3维显示器模样。
“That is what is allowing retailers to look at displays and signage they couldn’t do before,” says Vanhorn.
Vanhorn说：“使用这种材料，可以让零售商看看他们以前不能做的显示器和标牌。”
Gilman will color its foam in any color imaginable so that when viewed from the side, any sign made with its foam board will make a statement.
Gilman Brothers公司以任何可以想像的颜色对其发泡板进行着色，从侧面观察，发泡板制成的任何标识都能显示出特别的效果。
“There’s a cost, but when you get tired of the same look, maybe have the edge of the sign not be white or black. Make it the company logo color,” he says.
如果客户厌倦了标识边框是同样的颜色，不是白色就是黑色，那可以换成其他颜色。
Gilman’s boards are also 20% lighter than their competition, which makes them cheaper to ship.
此外，Gilman公司制作的发泡板，在质量上会比竞争对手的轻20％，并且在价格上也会便宜。
At United Industries, Ultraboard is the number one selling styrene-faced foam board. It is mostly used for interior signage in big box retail establishments, trade show booths and for wayfinding signs.
在United Industries公司，Ultraboard是苯乙烯发泡板的代表。它主要应用于大型零售店、展会展位、寻路标牌和室内标识。
Ben Strickland, United Industries’ national sales manager, says that Ultraboard is a superior foam board because of its durability, rigidity and warp resistance.
United Industries公司的销售经理Ben Strickland表示：“Ultraboard是一种优质的发泡板，它具有耐久性、刚性和耐翘曲性。”
“We make ours to what the standards used to be,” says Strickland.
Strickland说：“我们不再使用过去的标准了。”
He points out that many foam board manufacturers have reduced the thickness of the styrene backing on each side of the foam to reduce the cost of the product but that makes it less dent resistant and more prone to warping.
他指出：“许多发泡板制造商已经减少了对苯乙烯背衬的厚度，以降低产品的成本，这样做却减弱了材料的抗凹陷性，并且更容易出现翘曲的情况。
Ultraboard uses UV-stabilized styrene so that the styrene doesn’t yellow with exposure to light over time. The product is used to make routed letters and logos and interior signage.
产品Ultraboard使用了稳定的苯乙烯，苯乙烯不会随时间而变亮，可用于槽型发光字、徽标和室内标识的制作。
Its Ultra Aluminum product is a lightweight structural panel consisting of a rigid polystyrene foam core faced on one side with anodized aluminum and the other with high impact polystyrene.
产品Ultra Aluminum是一种轻质结构面板，由刚性聚苯乙烯泡沫芯组成，一面的氧化铝呈阴性，另一面具有高抗冲聚苯乙烯成分。
“It has a very high-end look at a very reasonable price because it isn’t inch-thick metal,” says Strickland.
Strickland说：“它不是厚实的金属，定位非常高端，价格也非常合理。”
Companies like Lowe’s, Target or Home Depot, have a dominant color with their sign systems. The cost of ink runs 25 cents per square foot if UV printing or silk screening, he says. “We can make the board with a Pantone-matched screen on the front of it.” For Target, which has a red and white bullseye for a logo, the company can make the board with a red styrene face on both sides and then white circles can be printed on it for the bullseye, which significantly reduces ink costs and improves print quality, he adds.
像Lowe's、Target或Home Depot这样的公司，他们的标识系统具有主导色彩。UV印刷或丝网印刷的墨水的成本每平方英尺约25美分。United Industries公司在和目标公司竞争时，他们在发泡板上进行了改良：他们将用于标识制作的一个红色和白色的舷窗，应用在两面的苯乙烯面板上，然后将圆圈印在其上，这样可以降低油墨成本，并提高打印质量。
United Industries batch laminates its foam board, meaning it takes flat sheets that it glues together forming stronger and sometimes thicker foam board. The company can make it up to 3 inches thick. If a company doesn’t have a printer that can print on 3-inch-thick foam board, the company will pre-print the company’s message on styrene or paper and then laminate the prints to the specified thickness of foam board.
此外，United Industries公司批量进行了层压发泡板，这意味着它将平板粘合在一起，形成了更加厚实的发泡板，厚度达到了3英寸。如果公司没有可以在3英寸厚的发泡板上打印的打印机，公司将使用苯乙烯或纸张来预先印刷信息，然后将信息层压到指定厚度的发泡板上。
Because the company extrudes its own foam, it can create foam board to custom specifications.
此外，公司还可以根据客户要求来制作发泡板。
“There’s a lot of ability to customize a sign with our product,” Strickland says.
Strickland 说：“我们有很大的能力为我们的产品定制一个专有的标识。”
3A Composites’ Gatorfoam is a heavy-duty foam board that is made from extruded polystyrene foam bonded between two layers of wood-fiber veneer. The product is great for point of purchase displays, trade show exhibits and kiosks, framing, monument signs, channel letters, hanging signs and fascia signs. Print shops can screen print, digital print and paint the material and it can be cut with a saw or routed, just like traditional wood.
3A复合材料Gatorfoam是在两层木纤维单板之间挤出聚苯乙烯泡沫所制成的重型发泡板。 该产品非常适合用于POP显示屏、展览展示信息屏、纪念碑标识、槽型发光字、吊牌和面板标识的制作。打印商可以在材料上进行数字打印，也可以用锯进行切割，就像传统木头一样。
There are a lot of different short-term and long-term applications for foam board, says Ben Branham, marketing manager for 3A Composites USA. Short-term options are displays that will run for a week or two before they are discarded and recycled. Medium-term options might be displays that are going to be used throughout the year, say for a traveling exhibit or kiosk. Long-term applications are hanging signage, like wayfinding signs in schools, retail and grocery stores.
3A Composites USA公司的营销经理Ben Branham说：“发泡板有短期应用和长期应用，短期应用能使用一周或两周；长期应用可能是一年，应用于悬挂标牌，如学校、零售和杂货店的标识。”
Gatorfoam is one of the original foam boards, he says. Foam-X is a lightweight foam board with a polyurethane core that is coated with multi-layered paper liners, suitable for indoor applications. Because the foam is softer, the edges can be “pillowed” or pushed together to eliminate the sharp edges.
Gatorfoam是原始的泡沫板之一，是一种轻质泡沫板，含有聚氨酯芯，涂有多层纸衬，适用于室内标识的应用。由于这种发泡板比较柔软，可以被挤压在一起，以消除锋利的边缘带来的损坏。
Foam board makers are always trying to come up with different uses for their products. Branham says that for upcoming trade shows, the company made a roulette board, including a roulette wheel, out of Gatorfoam Pro. It also has made cornhole boards out of Smart-X, another lightweight foam board with all-plastic sheet material with surfaces of UV and weather-resistant solid polystyrene and a core of expanded polystyrene that is moisture-resistant.
发泡板制造商总是试图为使产品能提供不同的用途。Branham 表示：“即将举行的贸易展览会上，Gatorfoam Pro公司为产品Smart-X配备了一种轻质泡沫板，是一种全塑料薄片制成的材料，能防紫外线，表面具有固体聚苯乙烯，核心具有发泡聚苯乙烯。”
Branham is currently working on building an 8-foot replica of the Wright brothers’ plane out of foam board for the company’s showroom. He calls it a work in progress.
目前，Branham正在为公司即将的展厅上展示的发泡板，建造一个8英尺的复本。 |
