Materials for P.O.P.

Wood

Wood is the most traditional of materials. It is extremely common, easily available, and mostly quite cheap. Some hardwoods are much more expensive. It is tactile and warm to touch and has attractive decorative properties with or without painting. It can be cut and shaped and is to some extent pliable. Wood is as durable as most POP applications are likely to require. Minor damage may be tolerable, for example wood may be simply chipped where a plastic might break.

Wood however needs finishing and this can result in significant cost. It must be smoothed, painted or varnished - often this involves several treatments. Wood may discolour over time and is susceptable to water damage and in the very long term, to rot.

These characteristics tend to make wood a material of choice for POP displays that are intended to last a long time and to support a prestige product as the initial cost is generally high. Sometimes small amounts of wood are used to add attractive features to displays primarily made of other materials.

The use of tropical hardwoods is discouraged by companies who respect the environment, although hardwood such as oak, produced responsibly in the context of a replanting scheme, may be used. Softwoods supplied in Europe are generally produced from sustainable forests. Wood is a biodegradable, natural material and after use the disposal of wood does not present environmental hazards.

MDF

Medium Density Fibreboard is a wood derivative well suited to carcasses. Light in weight, cheap, and reasonably strong, but like natural wood it requires surface treatment. MDF may require several coats of paint and this adds to the cost of manufacture quite significantly. A variant is malamine faced MDF which does not require painting.

MDF is an environmentally friendly material. It is produced from the thinnings of sustainable softwood forests. Such forest absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere naturally, and are therefore beneficial. When disposed of, MDF is biodegradable.

Plastic

Plastics are many and varied in their characteristics. Here we consider five types of plastic that are regularly used as a material for POP manufacture. Most plastics are relatively cheap and do not require finishing. However if exposed to sunlight they may degrade over time and translucency will be reduced. Thermoplastics are those polymers (plastics) that can be heated and reformed over and again, as in a thermoforming machine. This property also facilitates recycling of the material.

Acrylic

Acrylic is a plastic that can be polished at the edges and offers a gloss finish. It can be crystal clear or pigmented in a wide variety of colours. Brand colours can therefore be matched. Acrylic is easy to machine, it is cheap and reasonably strong but is also brittle and can be scratched. It can be bonded with adhesives. It is less suited to vacuum forming than other plastics, and Acrylic is flammable therefore it may be less suited to use in displays where fire resistence is an important factor. Acrylic is impact resistent - it will break less easily than glass.

Styrene

Styrene is cheap, and comes in multiple colours which can be matched to a requirement. It is less brittle than acrylic and more flexible, but slower to machine. Styrene sheet comes with a gloss side and a matt side and it cannot be polished. The translucent material is not completely clear - it tends to have a colour tinge. It is good as a material for vacuum forming and is therefore well suited to shaped components in POP displays. Styrene is resistent to chemicals. Easily machined, high impact resistence. Lightweight, good dimensional stability. Styrene is also one of the main plastics used in injection moulding.

PETG

Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol is usually supplied as a clear sheet and has excellent transparency. It is easy to thermoform. PETG can be bonded with adhesive but cannot be polished. It is not brittle. It has high impact resistence and is resistent to chemicals such as cleaning materials. PETG can be cut with a saw, drilled or otherwise machined. Self-extinguishing when set alight but in a fire situation produces thick black smoke.

Polycarbonate

Polycarbonate is a very strong stiff and hard material that can be moulded, bent, and machined. It is relatively expensive. Polycarbonate comes in all colours but is not suitable for thermoforming. Polycarbonate does not burn easily. Transparency is good in clear format.

ABS

Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene is very strong and is in many ways similar to polycarbonate. It offers good surface quality and colour fastness, and can be machined and some grades can even be electro-plated. ABS is a medium strength, medium cost material. Because it is such a strong and hard wearing material it is probably on your desk - many telephone handsets are made of ABS. Low flammability

All types of plastics are capable of being recycled.

Metal

Metals are used for some permanent POP applications where strength and durability are important.

Steel

Steel is relatively cheap and is suitable for framework. It is strong and can of course be machined. However, corrosion occurs and metal has to be painted or powder coated.

Aluminium

Aliminuum is expensive but combines strength with attractive appearance that does not need to be painted. However, it is sometimes teated by brushing to make it more attractive to the eye, and it can be anodised to prevent oxidation and discolouration. It can be extruded into shaped components

Gold

At Dauman Displays we have a special sorcery technique and we turn base metal into gold every Friday.

All metals can be recycled

Glass

Glass is mainly used as a material for shelving. Toughened glass is normally used as this is resistent to breakage and therefore safer to use in a retail environment. Glass however is heavy and can be broken. It would be unusual to use glass in a retail point-of-purchase display other than for shelving or for enclosure, for example where a high value product was to be displayed that needed to be protected from theft.

Glass can be recycled.

Cardboard

Cardboard is a cheap material. It can be printed and is stiff enough to support the weight of products on display when folded into shapes. It is, however, easily damaged and is suitable only for short term point of sale material.

Cardboard can be recycled.