Why Does the White PVC Foam Board Turn Yellow?

We believe that many friends who are using white PVC foam sheet or other white PVC products may have such questions.

In this blog, we will answer this question from the perspective of a PVC sheet manufacturer, analyze the reasons for the yellowing of PVC foam sheets, how we slow down the yellowing speed of PVC foam sheets, and tips for purchasing PVC cabinets.

Therefore, we can find that white PVC foam sheets are used in interiors, such as PVC cabinets, PVC decoration, and PVC door panels, and they hardly yellow. However, for the PVC foam sheet used outdoors, the sun and rain will speed up its decomposition and aging speed, and shorten the service life of the product. Different countries and regions in the world have different UV intensity, different sun exposure time, and different climates in a year, which have different effects on outdoor aging of PVC foam sheets.

The two PVC cabinets shown in the picture below are both in use since 2014. At that time we moved to a new office and made several PVC cabinets from our own PVC foam sheet. One is used indoors to store samples, and the other is placed on the balcony wall to store cleaners and supplies. Comparing them, we can know the effect of ultraviolet radiation on PVC foam sheet. And if you just look at the balcony PVC cabinet, its color still looks warm white or off-white.

In the blog of the manufacturing process of PVC foam board, we share that the raw materials for the production of PVC foam board require stabilizers, foaming agents, foam regulators, lubricants and fillers in addition to polyvinyl chloride resin. To produce white PVC foam board, we also need to add white color masterbatch to cover the yellowish color of PVC.

In addition, our laboratory staff also found that the auxiliaries for the production of PVC foam sheets may contain organic impurities that are easily discolored. They themselves may change color under the action of light, oxygen and water.

If even the anti-aging enhanced PVC foam sheet cannot meet your needs, then the most ideal solution is to choose laminated PVC foam sheet.

There are many choices of laminate materials for PVC foam board, which can give the product richer surface patterns and textures. HPL, aluminum sheet or acrylic as laminate, they all have better aging resistance than PVC sheet. For more details about laminated PVC foam board, please feel free to contact us.

Another good solution is to paint the PVC foam board white. The application of painted PVC foam board in advertising and decoration is more common. However, if it is used for home cabinets or other furniture, we must pay attention to the use of paints with qualified formaldehyde emission.

If you are looking for an all-white PVC cabinet, the ideal choice is to use PVC foam sheet laminated white HPL to make cabinets. Laminated white PVC film is perhaps the most common surface material, but not the best choice due to the possibility of yellowing of PVC film.

If cost control is more important, our suggestion is to consider the use of white PVC foam board for the partitions inside the cabinet and backboards where there is no sun shining through.

If PVC cabinets are to be used outdoors or semi-outdoors, such as modular cabinets with barbecue functions, we strongly recommend that the cabinet boards that can be directly exposed to sunlight use porcelain slab, fiber cement sheet or compact panel with stronger weather resistance, while other parts of the cabinet use anti-aging enhanced PVC foam sheet.