Hot-pressed and extruded by about 40%-70% biologic material and thermoplastics, the new composite material called WPC vinyl flooring that adopts the best qualities of both vinyl and laminate flooring.

The “w” stands for wood, but the fact is the majority of WPC-type products entering the market today do not contain wood. WPC is a composite material made of thermoplastics, calcium carbonate and wood flour. And thermoplastics could be PE, PVC, PS, PP and ABS according to the different purposes. It’s claimed that using one ton WPC material would be equivalent to reducing 1m3 deforestation, or 1.82 ton carbon dioxide.

In fact, WPC vinyl flooring is quite simple to manufacture. Briefly in five steps:

1.Mix raw materials in certain proportion together

2.Extrude WPC core material and forming in board

3.Cold-pressed with wear layer and printed vinyl layer on top

4.Shaping and cutting

5. Slotting in planks

In the following Picture 1. is common structure of WPC vinyl flooring, and flooring suppliers add EVA or cork padding on the back to replace PVC sheet for a better feeling in residential use (shown as Picture 2.).

Pic.1. Structure of WPC vinyl flooring

Pic.2. Structure of WPC vinyl flooring with Padding

Compared to hardwood, WPC is better in waterproof and corrosion resistance, and no natural defects, such as crack, cupping or knob etc.. In addition, WPC has majority of advantages of plastic material, for example, fire resistance, ageing resistance, and besides, its unfading color, lightweight is superior to plastic.

1. WPC vinyl is 100% waterproof.

2. Phthalate-free.

3. Perfect for imperfect subfloors. Because WPC vinyl is so thick and durable, it can hide an imperfect subfloor that you won’t feel the uneven under feet.

4. Realistic wood and stone looks. The top-end vinyl floors are able to more realistically mimic natural materials better than ever before. But the looks of WPC vinyl are usually more incredibly convincing and beautiful.

5. More resilient than tile. The vinyl wear layer of WPC provides cushion and comfort and also absorbs the impact sound to make it a quiet floor.

6. Require no maintenance. All you need is the occasional vacuum and damp mop to keep your WPC looking fabulous.

WPC is viewed by many as a segment of luxury vinyl tile, however, there are differences between them. Typically, all WPC products will be considered luxury vinyl tiles or luxury vinyl planks, but not all luxury vinyl is WPC.

Besides, in using, Compared to traditional glue-down LVT or click locking LVT, WPC products have a distinct advantage because the foamed but rigid core hides subfloor imperfections. In addition, the rigid core allows for longer and wider formats. With WPC, it is not necessary to worry about the installation preparation. Moreover, some WPC vinyl flooring suppliers add cork or EVA as padding to increase soft feeling and provide sound insulation. But relatively, traditional vinyl floors are flexible and any unevenness in the subfloor will transfer through the surface.

WPC has better physical performance than LVT too. After been placed under 80℃ for 6 hours, then take WPC vinyl flooring out at 23℃ room temperature and 50% humidity for 24 hours, it can be observed that:

Shrinkage in length: 0.11%

Shrinkage in width: 0.07%

Warping: 0.25mm

And for LVT, the warping is 0.5-1.2mm.

But at present, many WPC products in the market today would not pass an ASTM F 1700 test, which is the specification used for solid vinyl floor. ASTM F 1700 classifies solid vinyl tile in three categories: Class I Monolithic, which means through color tile with no backing; Class II Surface Decorated, which usually means an “inlaid” type tile with a backing; and Class III, Printed Film Vinyl Tile, which is a photographic print film with a clear vinyl wear layer and a backing system. WPC is a new product for most of retailers and ultimately consumers, thus we need to have proper specifications for it to be better understood.

For saving the cost and a better resilience, micro-cellular foaming technology is used in core layer of WPC vinyl flooring that makes it possible to perform better impact strength, toughness and service lifetime. Our tests indicate that the cell morphology of foamed core is usually influenced by plasticizer quantity, surface modification treatment of plant fibre, mixing effect of plant fibre and resin, foaming time and foaming temperature. Besides, the species of plant fibre makes a great influence on foaming properties as well. And we’d like to show some different foaming results and quality grades of core layer material we met next time.