KAPA® tech – an innovative hybrid graphic display board that combines the lightweight characteristics of a foam board with the durability of an aluminum composite material – will be introduced to the Americas by 3A Composites USA at the 2015 SGIA Expo in Atlanta Nov. 4-6 at Booth No 1819.
KAPA tech – originally introduced by 3A Composites in Europe in early 2015 – consists of two pre-painted sheets of .008-inch aluminum bonded to a polyurethane foam core. This hybrid construction allows KAPA tech to perform in both indoor and outdoor graphic displays with the durability of an aluminum composite material (ACM) but at half the weight of an ACM. Additionally, KAPA tech’s dense polyurethane foam core offers enhanced strength over polystyrene foam boards; and, its polyurethane foam edges may be decorated with a wide variety of paints – including solvent-based paints that typically are not available for use with polystyrene foam.
KAPA tech is an ideal substrate for creating point-of-purchase and retail-store displays, trade show booths, exhibits, and both indoor and outdoor permanent décor and signage.
KAPA tech is fabricated with conventional woodworking and metalworking machinery and can be routed and returned to form curved shapes. KAPA tech can be decorated by painting and with direct digital-printing and screen-printing processes as well as laminated with decorative film and high pressure laminates.
This innovative graphic display board’s light weight offers significant savings in both installation-system and labor costs as well as reduced freight charges to ship large displays, according to Brandon Wyatt, marketing manager, 3A Composites USA.
“KAPA tech is a cost-effective substrate choice for long-term graphic display projects – especially large interior signs and displays that might otherwise require heavy-duty metal installation systems to accommodate heavier substrates,” said Wyatt. “Many indoor display pieces created with lightweight KAPA tech can be installed with double-sided tape or hooks and easily can be hung – resulting in reduced installation costs. Additionally, exhibit and trade show displays created with lightweight KAPA tech can be shipped with reduced freight charges. We’re pleased to offer KAPA tech as a lightweight-yet-durable substrate option for creating long-term displays.”
KAPA tech is stocked in the 49.21-inch by 98.43-inch sheet size in both the 3/16-inch and 3/8-inch thicknesses with white foam/white aluminum facers.
KAPA tech has met rigorous fire-testing standards in both the United States and Europe.
KAPA tech – in both the 3/16-inch and 3/8-inch thicknesses – successfully has met Class A material requirements when subjected to the ASTM E84 fire test, which measures a product’s flame spread and smoke development. Class A materials are approved for interior signage and other graphic display applications requiring the most rigorous fire-performance standards. In UL-94 testing, KAPA tech – in both the 3/16-inch and 3/8-inch gauges – has achieved a VO rating, which proves this material is self-extinguishing and will not support combustion.
In Europe, KAPA tech is Euroclass B fire-certified and is the first KAPA board in the “difficult to ignite” category.