Home
>
Solutions
>
Signage

Signage

PVC, polycarbonate and acrylic substrates for printed, dimensional or illuminated signs

Sign designers and producers help their customers build brands and facilitate communications. Palram plays a supportive role by understanding market needs and performance demands, and offering a broad array of products to meet those needs. Whether you’re developing a simple printed sign, dimensional letters, wayfinding signage, or a 100-foot tall illuminated behemoth, you won’t find a more capable supplier than Palram for transparent and foam PVC, polycarbonate, or acrylic sheets. With extensive knowledge and expertise in the field, Palram’s expert technical consultants can help professionals select the right material to fit a specific fabrication process, whether it’s printing, backlighting, thermoforming, cold bending, or routing.

Indoor & Outdoor Signage Materials

Whether you’re manufacturing signage for indoors, outdoors, or chemically-aggressive environments such as hospitals, public kitchens, mines, labs, and refrigerated areas, Palram can help you find the materials and manufacturing techniques that result in a durable and superior product.

The Palram team also offers support in terms of compliance with electricity, flammability, durability, and temperature difference requirements.

Applications

Printed Signage

The choice of media for printed signage depends on the processes applied to the material after printing. For example, cutting, milling, laser cutting, gluing, drilling or thermo-forming. In addition, the location of the printed sign needs to be considered. For example indoor or outdoor, temporary or permanent, standard or premium look, protected or exposed. Palram offers a wide variety of media that meets all of these different requirements.

Main Benefits

Excellent ink adhesion and image quality

Variety of materials to meet requirements of different post-print processes

Meet different environmental requirements such as flammability, weatherability and durability

Wide range of quality options

Simple LIT Sign Faces

There are three different sign face applications:
• Light box where the image is printed on vinyl or a similar material that diffuses the light. The main purpose of this sign face is to protect against external weather and environmental conditions. Palram's PALSUN is a clear polycarbonate sheet that is ideal for this application as it is virtually unbreakable, yet clear and resilient against the outdoor elements.
• Diffused media between the light source and the image. The main requirement here is to diffuse the light evenly and be able to blur the light source even through thinner light boxes that place high-powered LED lights just a short distance away from the sign face. PALGLAS Palram's acrylic sheet, PALSUN Palram's polycarbonate sheet or PALCLEAR Palram's PVC sheet are the most suitable products for this application.
• Use of a rigid sheet to print directly on the front or back of the media. Palram's PALOPAQUE and PALCLEAR translucent or diffused PVC sheets can be printed and fabricated into display units, lit displays and signage, interior partitions, and more.

Main Benefits

Higher diffusion enables designers to place sign faces closer to the light source without light burns and enables a whiter base when lights are off

Coil-stock reels enable greater efficiency of cuts and higher ROI (PALSUN CS)

Channel Letters

Channel letter sign faces are used everywhere brands are advertised — gas stations, restaurants, coffee shops, major retailers and more. These signs advertise a brand logo where each letter of the sign is a 3D-illuminated light box. Palram offers PALGLAS acrylic media for these sign faces where the media is cut into the graphic shape of the letter or the logo and placed on a can with the LED source installed inside. The can itself is made of metal or foam PVC and the lower the can, the closer the sign face is to the light source. For this reason, a higher diffusion value is required. In some cases, when the sign is in a cold weather environment, acrylic may be less suitable as it can become brittle, and PALSUN polycarbonate can be used instead.

Main Benefits

Polycarbonate and acrylic are excellent materials for channel letters

A good diffuser sheet has high light transmission with high diffusion power and a white appearance

PALSUN offers an excellent solution for outdoor conditions – weather, vandalism, sunlight, etc.

Dimensional Signage

Thermoformed signage is unique in that there is no separation between the body of sign and the sign face. The sign is thermoformed to receive its dimensional look and shape (for example, in the case of the yellow McDonald’s M letter). Palram offers PALSUN polycarbonate media for dimensional signage as it has the best properties for thermoforming and structural strength. PALOPAQUE solid PVC can also be used in some cases.

Main Benefits

Suited for thermoforming

High level of structural strength

Wayfinding Signage

Wayfinding signage is usually placed indoors and sometimes backlit. These signs mostly consist of a simple printed or laminated sign face with an opaque substrate. Palram offers a range of solid PVC and foamed PVC that are either engraved or digitally printed.
Occasionally, sign makers prefer to use colored glossy PVC. This material can be engraved with graphics, printed and back-lit for emergency exit signs, or created from multi-layered or coated foam PVC.

Main Benefits

Wide range of materials in different sizes and colors for different placements and workflow processes

Range of materials that comply with flammability requirements

Range also includes premium media for permanent signage

Media can be printed, engraved, laminated, back-lit and more

Printed Signage

Main Benefits

Excellent ink adhesion and image quality

Variety of materials to meet requirements of different post-print processes

Meet different environmental requirements such as flammability, weatherability and durability

Wide range of quality options

Simple LIT Sign Faces

There are three different sign face applications: • Light box where the image is printed on vinyl or a similar material that diffuses the light. The main purpose of this sign face is to protect against external weather and environmental conditions. Palram's PALSUN is a clear polycarbonate sheet that is ideal for this application as it is virtually unbreakable, yet clear and resilient against the outdoor elements. • Diffused media between the light source and the image. The main requirement here is to diffuse the light evenly and be able to blur the light source even through thinner light boxes that place high-powered LED lights just a short distance away from the sign face. PALGLAS Palram's acrylic sheet, PALSUN Palram's polycarbonate sheet or PALCLEAR Palram's PVC sheet are the most suitable products for this application. • Use of a rigid sheet to print directly on the front or back of the media. Palram's PALOPAQUE and PALCLEAR translucent or diffused PVC sheets can be printed and fabricated into display units, lit displays and signage, interior partitions, and more.

Main Benefits

Higher diffusion enables designers to place sign faces closer to the light source without light burns and enables a whiter base when lights are off

Coil-stock reels enable greater efficiency of cuts and higher ROI (PALSUN CS)

Channel Letters

Main Benefits

Polycarbonate and acrylic are excellent materials for channel letters

A good diffuser sheet has high light transmission with high diffusion power and a white appearance

PALSUN offers an excellent solution for outdoor conditions – weather, vandalism, sunlight, etc.

Dimensional Signage

Main Benefits

Suited for thermoforming

High level of structural strength

Wayfinding Signage

Wayfinding signage is usually placed indoors and sometimes backlit. These signs mostly consist of a simple printed or laminated sign face with an opaque substrate. Palram offers a range of solid PVC and foamed PVC that are either engraved or digitally printed. Occasionally, sign makers prefer to use colored glossy PVC. This material can be engraved with graphics, printed and back-lit for emergency exit signs, or created from multi-layered or coated foam PVC.

Main Benefits