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Vinyl fences are pretty new on fence market, but demand for them is rapidly increasing. Vinyl fences are made of the same materials as vinyl windows and siding. They are not made of material like that which makes up PVC pipes. Thus, there is a high level of quality control during the manufacturing process of vinyl fences, since there has to be a perfect mixture of the chemicals in order to create a fence that can last against wind and weathering.
The two ways of making a vinyl fence are mono-extrusion and co-extrusion. In mono-extrusion, the fence is made from one continuous stream of material. By this method, an ultraviolet light inhibitor called titanium dioxide is threaded all throughout the material, including even on the insides where, needless to say, there is no need for it. The titanium dioxide is the most expensive ingredient in the vinyl material used for the fence.
Mono-extrusion process vinyl fences might therefore be costly, since they are putting the titanium oxide all throughout the material even in places where it is not needed. Makers of vinyl fences who use mono-extrusion attempt to save money by using just one extruder instead of two, which is all that mono-extrusion requires, but in the long run their big use of the UV inhibitor does not let them really save. And if they do not save, then neither does the buyer. Co-extrusion is performed using two concentric streams of material. The outer stream is called the “capstock”, and this contains the UV inhibitor. The inner stream is called the “substrate”, and it has a reduced amount of UV inhibitor in it. The inner and outer streams are put under great pressure and high temperatures, so that they are forced to chemically bond together. Although the two streams, once bound, take on the the semblance of separate layers in the fence, they are actually inseparable.
Co-extrusion costs more to manufacturers in the areas of tooling, training, machinery, and expertise, but it saves the manufacturers a great deal of money in the area of materials. In order to save even more money, savings which they pass on to customers, many of the co-extruders use recycled material for the inner layer, and often this is even of a different color. However, this does not in any way sacrifice the quality of the final vinyl.
If you go shopping for a vinyl fence, ask your merchant about what kind of extrusion process was used and about longevity, as vinyl can be easily warped by sunlight. |
