Making Overlay Material, Finish, Design Choice as Per Custom Requirements Graphic overlays are manufactured using a large variety of materials, adhesives depending on the overlay applications. The suitability of the materials and design is influenced by the sector or the practice that the overlay is needed for. Graphic overlay companies provide these features & options: 1. Larger assortment of finish options in polyester and polycarbonate 2. Materials as per usage and extreme or harsh exposure conditions along with chemical resistant, anti-microbial, UV resistant and ATEX approved materials (separately or assorted) 3. Embossing options in rim, Braille, dome and pillow style (assorted styles or separately) 4. RFI/ESD/EMC shielding via coating of ITO sputter 5. UV lacquer coatings textures and ‘secret-until-lit’ graphics with filter windows options Often reputed graphic overlay companies offer UL approved graphic overlays. Numerous hybrid materials along with their commoner counterparts are designed to address specific and personalized applications and the type of exposure that the overlay undergoes. Here are the numerous commonly available material options elaborated: 1. Polyester (high performance) is far tougher and robust compared to polycarbonate, PVC films. Providing superior chemical resistance and developed flex life, polyester can be around 280 microns thick available with several options for textured, anti-glare and gloss finish styles. Distinct polyester grades are available such as fully UV stable and can be further used with anti-microbial coatings. Polyester also works well when the buyer needs embossed features or requires using the overlay in excessive hostile or harsh environmental exposure. 2. Polycarbonate is also high performance and its thickness varies from 0.125mm to 2.0mm. This film is versatile, long lasting and also thermally stable thus making it an excellent option for optical transmission as well as enabling better mechanical properties. Polycarbonate can be used with numerous surface textures and then can further be embossed along with hard-surface coatings. 3. A low cost material compared to the above mentioned two materials, PVC provides great durability. Available as clear as well as in distinct solid color finishes, it can be used as smooth gloss-finish style material and also with distinct textured finish. A specific mark resist finish is also available for PVC to reduce the mechanical abrasion. 4. Another low-cost material, Vinyl is usually available as self-adhesive film with a large number of colors in matte, gloss as well as clear finish. Because Vinyl is self-adhesive, it
is only used for printing the front face that ends up exposing the print to environment. However, it can be over-laminated post printing via protective films for superior mechanical performance. Vinyl is suitable for simpler labels as well as decorative trim. To reduce the production cost, buyers should ensure that they are not using excessive color gradient effect since it heightens the cost of printing. Distinct colors on the overlay also notch up the cost however pantone and RAL color system works feasibly well for screen-printing in terms of quality as well as budget. Lighting system (bright or low) of the environment where the overlay will be placed in also influences material choice (due to glare). Moreover, the hybrid material costs higher but enables better durability of the product for harsher environmental situation, effectively helping the buyer receive the reimbursement on overlay investment through finer resilience. This article is written by C khuzwayo on behalf of Elecflex.com, this is having topics on Membrane Switch, Membrane Keypad, Membrane keyboard, Graphic Overlay, Membrane keypad Manufacturer and many more.