Mesh Banner Material

For a printer, the perforated nature of mesh banner material opens up opportunities in the outdoor banner market. Typical applications are building wraps, stadium and fence dressing as well as replacing a frontlit banner where wind loading is a factor or where an alternative look is desired. Air Flow rates of 25 - 65% are typical of what is available.

For example, building and event wrap mesh is an exciting and growing market because an eye-catching wrap both promotes the development and converts an eyesore during construction into a visual asset. Due to the large scale the perforated nature of the mesh does not greatly diminish the impact of the printed image.

Mesh banners are designed for robust outdoor conditions and so the materials chosen for their construction demonstrate characteristics such as toughness, UV resistance and fade resistance. This is a very important consideration when budgets and locations are being planned. If a client wants the message to remain vibrant after twelve months on the proverbial side of a building in London, then the correct mesh material provides the highest probability of achieving that objective.

Scrim is a reinforcement layer that is composed of filaments laid out in a cross-hatch pattern forming a central core, with a layer of a material bonded to one or both sides. Scrim has many applications for strengthening many types of substrate. Common examples are sails on sailboats, roofing membranes as well as Ultraflex mesh banners.

For constructing mesh banner material, it is added as a reinforcing layer to the PVC, which provides enhanced dimensional stability through greatly increased tensile strength and tear resistance. The pattern and direction of the scrim can be simple square hatching or complex patterns to make the mesh stronger and more durable. Ensure that your choice demonstrates the required toughness for the job in hand.

The event and exhibition sectors create requirements for specialist mesh materials or specific sizes. Speaker mesh has an extremely open constriction to allow sound to pass through as a priority over wind. It can also be used to create highly translucent effects. It is important not to confuse speaker mesh with sprinkler mesh. Whilst the two look very similar a sprinkler mesh must have a classification for the rate that water can flow through it.

Mesh material can also be supplied in sizes that suit specific applications. A 5-metre roll width is perfect for minimising waste when producing a building wrap. 1.37 or 1.6m rolls are ideal for café barriers and fence dressing applications and will typically be supplied with a release liner allowing their use on machines without a mesh kit.

Banner PVC and other substrates are sometimes printed on both sides. Mesh works best as a single sided frontlit material. That’s perfect for its most common applications, such as on buildings, fences etc.

This is a very important consideration when one remembers the typical locations – usually at some height. Not only is it important that it’s easily removed but it also generates less load on the wall, scaffolding or fence to which it is attached, reducing the risk of damage or of breaking free in high winds.

A perforated material might be expected to deliver inferior printing results because, basically, it’s full of holes and so there is less material to print on. While there certainly is less light reflected from the surface if there is limited light from the rear of the image excellent results can be achieved.

To find out more about the right banner substrates for every type of assignment, please download our free guide: The PVC Banner Material Buyer's Guide.