Lamination continues to assert itself as the best solution and the products are multiplying with a varied offer for applications on different types of substrates, such as vinyl and paper. The benefits it offers continue to win over the market with proven capabilities and new solutions to problems that decal often anticipates through its research and quality control work.

This work includes ongoing tests and, to answer questions about the importance of lamination in protecting prints, one was carried out between 2018 and 2020 with six samples produced on the Mimaki JV300-160, CJV30-100 solvent printers and the Mimaki UJV55-320 UVLED printer, with and without UV LED lamination.

After two years of direct exposure to sunlight and erosion on a plate placed outside and facing south, the results confirmed that the deterioration and peeling of the laminated applications was exponentially reduced when compared to the non-laminated applications. Another important finding was that chemical corrosion from pollution had a greater impact than UV wear.

The durability of the work is a factor that can make all the difference and is directly related to the resistance of the materials to the weather conditions found outdoors, but not only that. Lamination is also essential for indoor applications, for example in shopping malls and other public spaces with a high influx of people.

Aesthetics are not neglected in this process and, as well as protecting, lamination can contribute to enhancing colors, increasing brightness and other effects that enhance prints. Evolution has led to the emergence of new ranges with other differentiating features, which have proven to be intelligent responses to the needs and requirements of each context.

At decal, we produce various solutions to protect water-based, solvent-based, latex and UV prints with adhesive products that overcome the challenges of the market. A range of proposals including the environmentally friendly PVC Free range, produced without plasticizers, the resistance of the Floor Graphics range, suitable for floor applications, or the safety of the Microbial Free range, which reduces bacteria by 99.99%.

O conteúdo The Effectiveness of Lamination: Protection and Durability for Your Prints aparece primeiro em Decal.

One thing is certain. Demand is across the board, regardless of whether we’re talking about graphics for commercial and institutional actions, signage or the decoration of vehicles and windows. The same goes for personalizing public and private spaces, fashion, home and sports textile applications or producing labels and tags for packaging, including food packaging.

Are you looking for all this? Then get to know the 5 great reasons why you should trust decal like the many customers who have already chosen our brand in more than 50 countries.

1. Know-how & Innovation
We celebrate 35 years of experience in the large format digital printing market and 12 years of in-house production.

This consolidated know-how is combined with a constant search for innovation and high production capacity with specialized employees and modern facilities of more than 10,000m², equipped with state-of-the-art waterbase and UV machines.

2. Safety & Ecology

We use European raw materials that comply with our “Think Green” ecological commitment and various types of fire-resistance, anti-slip, anti-microbial and chemical regulations (REACH and RoHs).

Security that we reinforce with Research & Development processes in our laboratory and integrated production with strict quality control.

3. Effectiveness & Versatility
We develop products for indoor and outdoor applications, consolidating the ecological option and versatility, highlighted in the PVC Free, monomeric and polymeric vinyl, carwrapping, alldecor, wallcover, glass decor, microbial free and inkjet label specialist ranges.

The choice is wide between High Tack, RSS Removable Smooth Surface, Bubble Free and GreyBack adhesives, as well as FDA, FSC and ISEGA certification for food and human contact.

4. Support & Visibility

We offer a webpage with an online store for greater convenience and agility in consulting and ordering products, with access to technical information, brochures and application manuals, without neglecting the continuous monitoring by dedicated account managers.

Integration into the decal partner network includes customizing packaging and catalogs (media guides) with our customers’ image and ensuring greater visibility through online and offline marketing actions and media, such as campaigns and displays.

5. Competitiveness & Satisfaction

We tailor our offer to companies’ individual investment capacity, analyzing the specific needs of each case and offering exclusive payment and stock conditions.

Adjusted solutions that materialize in short, medium and long-term advantages through competitive profit margins and financial sustainability.

O conteúdo 5 Reasons to Choose Decal Adhesive Products – Quality and Innovation Guaranteed aparece primeiro em Decal.

AMS – The influence has naturally been negative. In “normal” crisis conditions, advertising is one of the first areas affected and where budgets are cut. However, this situation was worse since it wasn’t a crisis that cut budgets, it was a total and abrupt halt to all kinds of events – such as fairs, sporting events, retail advertising – where visual communication is the most common medium.

2. Are you optimistic about the recovery? When do you think we’ll return to pre-pandemic levels?

AMS – At Decal, we’re very optimistic because we’ve used this sort of “time capsule” to reinforce and advance various projects we had underway. Both in terms of investments in the factory and the preparation of new ranges, which we will be presenting soon.

About the recovery, just as this market is the first to be affected when there is a crisis, it is also the first to emerge from it, since visual communication is critical to the recovery. Brands, businesses and events need to communicate in order to succeed and, as such, they usually come back strongly. So, for our sector, we predict that 2022 will be the same as 2019.

3. What advances do you think are yet to come in the self-adhesive materials and films market?

AMS – I don’t think there is anything yet to come, but rather to be implemented, particularly more sustainable materials. If there’s one good thing that this crisis has brought, it’s a greater awareness of sustainability and ecology and we believe that the demand for ecological materials will certainly be the trend. Not just in the future, but already with a strong increase in demand in the present.

The difficulty is that these products have always been much more expensive than those that don’t have these characteristics. We decided to respond to this market need with a range of PVC Free products at prices as competitive as ordinary PVC.

4. What is your company’s most recent innovation for this market?

AMS – Actually, we don’t have one innovation, we have many.

I’ll start with the alldecor 2d range, which we launched to keep up with one of the biggest trends of this pandemic – the renovation of spaces, whether commercial, hotel or, above all, private. A set of decorative textured films for wall and furniture applications, accommodating the ecological concern of being PVC Free.

For the digital printing market, we have prepared a range of monomeric or polymeric materials that are moisture-proof, curl-proof and curl-proof when subjected to temperature during printing. Let’s call it the state of the art in digital printing.

I’ll end with Dot Free. There are several products on the market, more or less popular, for window decoration/communication, but they all suffer from the same problem: reduced transparency. The problem is the type of adhesive used, which is visible because it is made of small circles of adhesive (visually poor and of low quality).

Many brand owners wanted the same concept of a product with truly crystalline properties, as if it were a directly printed shop window. After extensive research, we met the challenge with the Dot Free range (PVC and PVC free), which accommodates all printing technologies and fully meets the quality requirements of advertisers.

5. What kind of customers are you targeting?

AMS – These novelties include innovative products for the areas of advertising, architecture, decoration and commercial communication.

6. What differentiates your product from others on the market?

AMS – All the ranges we are launching have PVC and PVC Free options. So we have products for the printing technology that still occupies the largest percentage of the market, but also for the new and future trends of UV LED, latex or others.

7. What is your global offer of self-adhesive materials and films?

AMS – Thank you for the opportunity. So I can mention another novelty, Polymeric Car Wrapping. Decal’s offer is quite complete, as it includes monomeric and polymeric PVC printing media. This new range includes printing and laminating films for wrapping vehicles or objects, making it a clearly more competitive alternative for these applications.

The products have all types of permanent, removable or removable smooth surface adhesive, with the possible grey back combination, or high tack adhesives for adhering to surfaces with low surface tension. In addition, there is the PVC Free range, with an external guarantee of up to 4 years, making it a strong sustainable and competitive alternative to the use of PVC.

We have a range of monomeric, polymeric and PVC Free laminations with an adhesive that guarantees high transparency, no whitish effect and conformability on UV prints, avoiding the silvering effect. We’re also talking about an adhesive with intrinsic characteristics of high resistance to ageing.

I’d like to add the films for decorating glass with bubble-free adhesive, allowing application with water, which reduces installation time by a third. I’ll end with the recent alldecor 2d range, where decorating walls or furniture has never had so many sensations…

It’s important to note that any of the new ranges – monomeric, polymeric or PVC Free – have products with fire-retardant B1 certification (standard EN 13501-1:2018).

8. On which surfaces are these types of materials still used and what could they be used for?

AMS – The most appropriate question is not so much which surfaces to apply them to, but what to apply them to. This is where decals stand to make all the difference.

O conteúdo Armando Mota da Silva: The Role of Visual Communication in Economic Recovery aparece primeiro em Decal.

According to Armando Mota, the solution that protects impressions and people comes about “in a context in which hygiene care is as much in the spotlight as ever”. However, this is not just a short-term need and, in this sense, he says that “we decided to find a film not only for this moment, but also for the future, that could unequivocally help with antibacterial action between sanitizations”.

Decal’s COO and Business Development Director identifies those interested in the microbial free range, namely “those responsible for any type of space where there is the possibility of cross-contact on surfaces”, which “now have the ability to eliminate bacteria, fungi or even reduce the spread of some viruses, such as coronavirus type 229E”.

He adds that “we must, of course, be careful when passing on this information to the user because these laminating films do not, in essence, replace hygienic care. They improve performance in some scenarios significantly, up to 99.99% efficiency, but always maintaining all the necessary care”.

Whoever visits the spaces will know that the antimicrobial properties are present through the Higiene+ quality seal. Armando Mota stresses that this certification “distinguishes places or establishments that use microbial free and allows our customers to show their concern for their well-being, not least because the type of additive responsible for this antibacterial and viral action is not harmful to the human body. In short, we have found the balance between protection and safety”.

A guarantee of confidence that professionals can give to the end consumer while they themselves enjoy the direct benefits of other differentiating features of the decal, such as easy application and repositioning, the possibility of removal without residue and the glossy or matte finish options.

Microbial free decal range

Decal Overlaminate Microbial Free R SS 80
Removable PVC film with clear matte and clear glossy finish options developed for laminating smooth (non-porous) surfaces. The possibility of repositioning and removal without residue allows it to be applied without the need for specialized technical knowledge.

Decal Overlaminate Microbial Free P HT 80
Permanent PVC film that stands out for its high adhesion and adjusts to the specifics of each substrate. Ideal for laminating printed products and almost all types of surfaces (without irregularities), with clear matte and clear glossy finishing options.

O conteúdo Microbial Free: Laminations that Guarantee Protection for Prints and People aparece primeiro em Decal.