What Cause Vinyl Flooring Chromatic Aberration
Chromatic aberration problem (color difference) sometimes happens on our homogeneous vinyl flooring. Two main factors can cause this problem, which are external factors and internal factors. External factors include room temperature and humidity; internal factors include raw materials and molding processes.
1. Raw materials cause vinyl flooring chromatic aberration
Homogeneous vinyl flooring’s primary raw materials are polyvinyl chloride and copolymer resin. It adds fillers, plasticizers, stabilizers, colorants and other auxiliary materials to hot press molding. The color and light transmittance of different polyvinyl chloride batches and copolymer resin would be different to a certain extent. Therefore, if the batches of raw materials used in the production process are different, it can affext vinyl flooring colors.
2. Inks & print
The production of vinyl flooring mainly uses two kinds of printing technologies: environmentally friendly water-based ink direct printing technology and transfer printing technology. Direct printing technology is the process of using ink to print directly on the surface of the product. Transfer technology applys an external mask to the surface of the product through oil pressure technology. Then there is a process of transferring again. The subtle differences in printing process control and ink adjustment will cause each production batch’s printed fabrics to have different degrees of color difference. In conclution, they cannot achieve absolute consistency.
3. Molding process
In the same way, the difference in temperature and extrusion force on the vinyl flooring during molding will cause color differences.
When the materials reach a specific temperature, it begins to soften. After the pressure (i.e., the shearing force) of the decorative layer reaches a certain level, the printing base film and the ink film begin to flow under the shearing force’s action. Because the ink film thickness is thinner. Moreover, the ink film fluidity is greater than that of the base film. The decorative layer is exposed to the printing substrate, causing whitening. That is the color difference. Similarly, when the decorative layer is subjected to absolute pressure and reaches a specific temperature, the color difference will also occur.
4. Environmental factor also afffect vinyl flooring chromatic aberration
In addition to these internal factors, even when the material is under absolutely standard process conditions, the molded product will have a color difference due to the visual angle difference. At the same time, when the environment changes or the temperature and humidity change, they can also cause the color differences.
Question 1. Is the vinyl flooring chromatic aberration a quality problem?
The cause of the color difference in vinyl flooring is very complicated, and it is also unavoidable. A slight color difference is not a quality problem. However, if there is a robust and non-patterned color difference in a small area on the same floor, it belongs to quality problem.
The technical parameter related to the color difference of vinyl flooring is “colorfastness”. Colorfastness refers to the level of time that vinyl flooring can maintain the original color under ultraviolet light. It is divided into 1-8 groups. The higher the group, the longer the time to maintain the primary color. The time between every two levels is four times the relationship.
As a result, Haoflor uses direct printing technology. Compared with transfer technology, direct printing technology has higher color reproduction, better clarity and colorfastness. BASF provides the ink we used. The colorfastness can reach at least level 6. It means that our floor will not change color for at least two years.
Question 2. How to solve the chromatic aberration problem?
If you find that there is a color difference that is not a quality problem during laying, just follow the solutions in order to avoid the overall installation effect:
1. Install in the order of roll number
2. In the laying process, make the transition according to the floor’s subtle color difference; You can lay the flooring with the smallest color difference together. Try to minimize the difference in visual effects caused by chromatic aberration
3. Lay the floor with chromatic aberration under large objects such as beds and tables.