Foam board comes in all shapes, colors and sizes, and they have really revolutionized the sign industry because of their versatility. As the use of digital printing has exploded in the signage and graphics markets, so has the use of foam board as a substrate. And because of this explosion, manufacturers of foam board are introducing new products that take advantage of today's digital printers and give shops multiple options for creating innovative signs and displays.
PVC发泡板可以被加工成各种形状、颜色和尺寸的标识，它的广泛用途彻底改变了标识行业的发展方向。标识图文市场中，数码喷印应用技术激增，因此PVC发泡板也被用作标识材料。同时由于数码喷印技术的发展，PVC发泡板制作商正不断开发新产品，这些新产品都继承了现代数码喷印机的优势，并且给商铺提供了多种创新型标识展板的选择。
A GREAT PLACE FOR GRAPHICS
图文的最佳选择
3A Composites manufactures several foam board product lines, including Gatorfoam, Smart-X, Fome-Cor and Sintra. Gatorfoam has been around for more than 30 years and is the original heavy duty foam board.
3A复合材料公司生产了几种PVC发泡板产品，包括Gatorfoam、Smart-X、Fome-Cor和Sintra。Gatorfoam已经推出30多年了而且它是最原始的重型PVC发泡板。
“It is seen as the staple for foam boards across the world and primarily in the U.S. and Canada. It can be used both indoors and can be used for exterior signage. It is dent and scratch resistant. It is very durable,” says Ben Branham, marketing manager for 3A Composites USA.
美国3A复合材料公司的市场经理本·伯兰罕称：“Gatorfoam被认为是全球PVC发泡板供应中的主要产品，尤其在美国和加拿大。它能用于室内或室外标识，不会凹陷且抗划性好，非常耐用。”
Foam board in general has really come into its own with advances in printing technology over the past few years. All of 3A Composites' foam board products can have high-definition graphics printed on them, screen printed on them, cut, bent, shaped or routed to a particular design.
近几年来，PVC发泡板在喷印技术行业已经有了很大的进步。3A复合材料公司的所有PVC发泡板产品都能制作出高清晰度的图文，也能被切割、弯曲、成形或被数控成特定的设计图案。
Gatorfoam is comprised of extruded polystyrene foam bonded between two layers of wood-fiber veneer, which makes it great for signs, point-of-purchase displays, exhibits, kiosks and framing.
Gatorfoam是由两层木纤维胶合板和中间粘合着挤塑聚苯乙烯PVC发泡板组成的，这种结构使得它更适合制作标识，也是展览展示的新卖点。
“Because it is such a sturdy strong board and can be bent and routed, you can make a 3-D design,” Branham says.
伯兰罕称：“由于它是可以弯曲和数控的坚硬板材，所以你可用它做成3D标识。”
Sintra is one of Branham's personal favorites. It is a bright white PVC board that is very lightweight, rigid and durable and is very easily formed into all kinds of shapes.
Sintra是伯兰罕个人最喜欢的产品之一。它是一种亮白色PVC发泡板，非常轻便、坚硬、耐用，并且易被加工成各种形状。
“Because it is expanded PVC, a plastic, you can put heat to it, bend it and shape it. It has very good dent and scratch resistance and you can get it in multiple colors: green, red, blue, yellow, black and white,” he adds.
伯兰罕补充道：“由于它是可延伸的PVC塑料板，因此你可以将其加热、弯曲、成形。它不易凹陷且耐划性好，你可以将其喷涂成各种颜色：绿色、红色、蓝色、黄色、黑色和白色。”
To show its versatility, 3A Composites made a 6-foot-tall, three-dimensional replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris out of Sintra. It looks real, with lots of bends and angles and high-definition graphics.
为了展现它的通用性，3A复合材料公司做成了一个6英尺高的三维立体巴黎埃菲尔铁塔的仿制品。它看起来非常逼真，因为它有许多弯曲和角度还有高清晰度的图文。
Fome-Cor board is the original graphics arts foam board. It was initially developed for school science fair displays. It is sturdy, easy to use, affordable and very lightweight, making it very popular for signage applications. It is also very easy to cut with a razor blade or with dies. Fome-Cor is also used for screen printing or digital printing applications.
Fome-Cor板是原始图文艺术PVC发泡板。它最初用于学校科学展览，而由于其本身坚硬、易加工、便宜、轻便的特点，使得它在标识应用中非常受欢迎。同时它也易被刀片或模具切割。Fome-Cor也适用于屏幕喷印或数码喷印应用领域。
“It is a good economical board. You don't want to use it on complex displays,” Branham says. He points out that Sintra or Gatorfoam are better for more complex projects.
伯兰罕称：“Fome-Cor是非常经济合算的板材。你不会想把它用在复杂的展览展示上的。”他指出，Sintra或Gatorfoam更适合复杂的项目。
Smart-X is a lightweight foam board. It is weather-resistant and has a high UV stability and humidity resistance. It is very rigid. This is the perfect foam board for retail window displays, he adds, or any area that is in direct sunlight or faces the street.
Smart-X是一种轻质PVC发泡板。它不受天气影响，并且UV稳定性好、防潮性好。它也非常坚硬，是零售商窗口或者是在阳光照射下、正对街道的任何区域展板的最佳PVC发泡板选择，。
“This will hold up well in that type of display,” he says.
伯兰罕说：“这种PVC发泡板非常适合零售业类型的展板。”
Branham has seen many companies get very creative with Gatorfoam. One company made a sign for the side of its building that was layered in a way to look like 3-D graffiti. Many trade show booths are made out of Gatorfoam because it is a great product for structural work. The newest trend is for companies to mix and match the types of foam board it uses to make a sign or display because each type has different characteristics like formability or durability. Some signs need a product that is round or curved, others need to be routed or carved.
伯兰罕发现许多公司用Gatorfoam的产品都特别富有创造性。一家公司为其大楼侧面制作了一个标识，该标识某种程度上看起来像是3D涂鸦。许多贸易展览摊位都是用Gatorfoam做成的，因为它是制作建筑结构最佳产品。对公司来说，最新的发展方向是混合匹配各种类型的PVC发泡板制作成标识或展板，因为每种类型的PVC发泡板有不同的特性，譬如成形性或耐用性。一些标识要求用圆形或弯曲的材料，其他的则需要能被数控或雕刻。
“In the past it was just printing to the board and cutting out a shape in the board. Now, with new technology like CAD, you can make different layers and signs with all kinds of structure to it,” Branham says. “It makes for interesting products.”
伯兰罕说：“过去只是将图文喷印到板材上或将板材切割成形。而现在，运用新技术譬如CAD，你可以画出不同结构的图层和标识，制作出有趣的产品。”
He adds that it goes back to advances in printing technologies and has worked its way up to 3-D options that allow signs and displays to get really intricate.
他补充道，标识和展板行业变得如此错综复杂，就要追溯到喷印技术的进步和3D技术的发展。
“You can use the materials differently to make the design stand out and to give it that unique shape and that unique look. That is something that has not always been available,” Branham says.
伯兰罕称：“你可以使用不同的材料制作出吸引人的标识，它可以呈现出独特的形状、独特的外观。”
INFINITE POSSIBILITIES
无限可能性
The Gilman Brothers Company, in Gilman, Conn., has a new flagship foam board called INFINITY, which is a styrene-faced foam board.
美国康涅狄格州的吉尔曼兄弟公司，推出新型旗舰苯乙烯PVC发泡板INFINITY。
Ingrid Skinner, strategic communications leader for the company, says that what makes INFINITY board so special is that the foam inside the board is 2.5 times denser than most foam boards on the market. The styrene finish makes the board very smooth. Because of that, there aren't a lot of pockets in the surface to capture ink or to leave white spots behind. That means that the printer will use less ink, which costs less money in the long run.
该公司战略沟通主管英格丽·斯金纳称：“INFINITY如此特别的原因是，此板材中的泡沫稠密度是市面上大多数PVC发泡板的2.5倍。苯乙烯材料使得此板表面非常光滑。多亏有了这种材料，PVC发泡板表面不会有很多的凹陷处，造成油墨堆积，或留下白色的污点。从长远来看，这就意味着喷印机使用的油墨会更少，某种程度上成本就越低。”
“Because we have special modifiers in our foam, you can bend it,” she says. “You can't do it with paper-faced foam boards but because of the styrene, it can be bent.”
她说：“因为我们在泡沫中用了改性剂，所以你可以很容易的使它弯曲，如果是纸面PVC发泡板，就不能使它弯曲，但是用了苯乙烯之后就可以弯曲了。”
Her company has made several trade show booths completely from foam board.
她的公司已经用PVC发泡板制作了几个贸易展览摊位。
“You are not limited to flat signage. It can be cold bent. You pre-score it and then ship it flat. It gets to the store or trade show and they take it out of the box and they can just bend it to shape,” Skinner says.
斯金纳说：“你可以制作的不仅只限于平板标识，也可以将它冷却弯曲成你想要的样式。你可以先做上标记，然后以平板形式运送。当你到达商铺或贸易展览摊位的时候，再把它拿出来将其弯曲成形。”
At a recent trade show, the company made a 1980s rock and roll scene with a tour bus crashing through a wall, drums and guitar all made out of INFINITY board.
在最近一个贸易展览中，该公司制作了一个20世纪80年代的摇滚场景，此场景是一辆游览车撞毁了一面墙，鼓和吉他都是用INFINITY板做成的。
“The drums were pre-scored and bent. They look like round drums. It was put together on site,” she adds. “Everything we had at our trade show looked real.”
她说：“鼓就是先做了标记然后再弯曲的，所以看起来像是圆形的。在现场将它们固定在一起。我们的贸易展览上所有东西看起来都像真的一样。”
Gilman has what it calls its ColorOne White Point Management System that ensures optimum printing performance and consistency across all of its board products, including direct-printable foam board, by matching the surfaces of the board by their degree of whiteness. Surface liner materials and coatings have been carefully selected to derive consistent white balance and optimum surface properties for printing. ColorOne helps producers deliver better results for exhibit and display applications where more than one type of board may be employed, yet the imagery must be consistent across the entire project. This is particularly important when printing logos and identifiable company color schemes.
吉尔曼公司拥有其所谓的ColorOne White Point管理系统，能够保证最佳喷印画面和整个过程的稳定性。慎重选择表面衬垫材料和涂层，从而达到一致的白度平衡和最佳的表面喷印性能。ColorOne管理系统帮助厂商实现展览展示应用产品的最佳效果，这些产品由多种类型的板材组成，同时成像化始终贯穿在整个制作过程中。这在喷印商标和清晰的公司配色方案中尤为重要。
INFINITY board is also very bendable and 22 percent lighter than many of the foam boards on the market, which makes it cheaper to ship.
INFINITY板也是可弯曲的，并且比市面上许多PVC发泡板轻便22%，这样的话运输费用就会更低。
Along with trade show booths, INFINITY board is used for 3-D displays, point-of-purchase signage, retail store displays and hanging displays.
除了贸易展览摊位之外，INFINITY板也用于3D展示、购货点标识、零售商店展览和悬挂式展板。
POST-CUT APPEARANCE
后切式外观
When cutting some foam boards, the edges can look ragged.
在切割PVC发泡板的时候，边缘都会变得参差不齐。
Because INFINITY board's foam core is 2.5 times denser than other foam board options, it cuts more cleanly than other foam boards, Skinner says.
斯金纳说，由于INFINITY板中的泡沫稠密度是其他PVC发泡板的2.5倍，因此在切割时，它比其他PVC发泡板都整洁。
“We have had great performance with Zund and other digital cutters,” she adds.
她补充道：“我们用Zund公司和其他的数码切割机，将INFINITY板切割成外观精美的形状。”
The board comes in sizes ranging from 16” x 20” up to 60” x 192”. INFINITY is 100 percent recyclable. It comes in 3 mm to 1-inch thick. The half-inch INFINITY is very popular for making trade show booths. Its thickness and strength allows it to be carved into large shapes that won't bend or flop over.
INFINITY板材的尺寸范围是从16英寸 x 20英寸到60英寸 x 192英寸，并且100%可回收，其厚度范围是3毫米到1英寸。半英寸厚的INFINITY板适用于制作贸易展览摊位。它的厚度和强度决定了其能够被雕刻成大的形状，且不会弯曲或翻转。
