Polyvinyl fluoride film is a flexible, transparent film, which, unlike most films, is inherently weatherable as well as tough, inert, and easy to fabricate. All its properties derive from its chemical structure and are not dependent on additives or plasticizers. Polyvinyl fluoride film is strong, flexible, and fatigue-resistant. The film is impermeable to greases and oils, and retains its film form and strength even when boiled in strong acids and bases. Its resistance to hydrolysis is excellent. The film is used for metal prefinishing, building board prefinishing, and for roofing applications in which its weatherability permits it to make a unique contribution as an exterior finish. It can be applied to galvanized steel and to aluminum as well as to plywood, hardboard, cement-asbestos, fibrous glass, and similar building materials to provide both a decorative and a long-lived protective surface. Laminated to flexible substrates the material offers promise as an easily installed, highly reflective, maintenance- free roofing material. Chemical, physical, and thermal properties combine to make the film a unique material for bag molding and as a parting sheet. Shapes can be fabricated by pressure or vacuum forming. Polyvinyl fluoride film in either transparent or pigmented form provides a weatherable, soilresistant surface layer for flexible and rigid plastics. The material appears suitable for some difficult packaging applications and offers useful properties in tape form. Used as a jacketing material over insulation on tanks and pipelines, it gives superior performance at lower cost than other materials in use. Outdoor glazing is another application for the film because of its strength, transparency, and weatherability, combined with ease of fabrication through heat sealing. Solar energy structures, transparent tarpaulins, air-supported structures, storm windows, greenhouses, poultry sheds, and crop covers can be made from it.
