Despite seeming like a declining audio format for many years, vinyl records survived the transition from analog to digital music and are now going as strong as ever. Record sales continue to increase thanks to a revamped interest in owning physical copies of singles and albums.
Vinyl records are made of PVC, which is short for polyvinyl chloride. Plasticizers and heat stabilizers are also used to construct them, and colorants are used to make the records black or any other color. PVC is a relatively easy material to produce quickly on a mass scale.
Most people are unaware of the materials used to make vinyl records and the process used to manufacture them. With millions of records produced yearly, vinyl pressing plants are in high demand. In this article, you’ll learn which materials are used to make vinyl records and more about how they are produced.
What Are Vinyl Records Made Of?
Vinyl records are made from a material called PVC, which is an abbreviation of polyvinyl chloride. The PVC is combined with PVA, or polyvinyl acetate, making up the bulk of the material used to create a record.
You may remember PVA glue from your schooldays – this material is the same as the polymer used in vinyl records. But what exactly are PVC and PVA, and how are they produced?
PVC is created by taking a raw material that is hydro-carbon based. This could be coal, gas, or petrol. The raw material is then processed into what is known as polymers, which are simply materials that consist of a long chain of molecules, repeated many times.
This results in the creation of ethylene, which is then mixed with chlorine to create a chemical compound known as ethylene dichloride (EDC.) The EDC is then transformed into VCM, short for vinyl chloride monomer, and after a process of polymerization, it becomes PVC.
PVA, on the other hand, is much easier to create. The organic compound vinyl acetate is polymerized, resulting in producing PVA.
The PVC and PVA are added together, along with several other additives, which create the material used for vinyl records.
The other additives used are:
- Colorants
- Plasticizers
- Lubricant
- Heat stabilizers
PVC and PVA account for over 95% of the total weight of the vinyl record, but the other four additives are essential despite only making up around 5%.
Can You Touch a Vinyl Record?
If your parents, grandparents, or other family member had a vinyl record collection growing up, you may have gotten into trouble for grabbing the records and touching the grooves.
Touching a vinyl record will not cause it any harm as long as you handle it correctly. It’s not a good idea to touch the record’s grooves, as these can be easily scratched or damaged, which may, in turn, harm your stylus.
The correct way to pick up a vinyl record is by placing your fingers against the perimeter at either side. It would be best if you only touched the outer edge of the record rather than the top or bottom where the grooves and engraved.
Another possible way that you can handle a vinyl record is by only touching the middle part where the label is. This section of the record doesn’t have any grooves; therefore, touching it will not potentially damage it.
Sometimes, touching the vinyl record’s grooves may be necessary, or you may forget and accidentally pick it up incorrectly. If this occurs as a one-off, don’t worry, it’s unlikely that you will damage the record unless you pick it up regularly without using the methods I’ve suggested.
When touching a vinyl record, the main danger is that you scratch the grooves. If you wear a ring, watch, or bracelet, be careful not to let your jewelry come into contact with the vinyl.
It’s important to take care when removing the record from its sleeve or putting it back in. Gently edging it out so that you can hold the outer edge is a good way to minimize the risk of damage.
You can find out more about the proper ways to handle a vinyl record in the comprehensive guide I’ve written on the subject.
Are Vinyl Records Eco-Friendly?
For many people, vinyl records have a special place in their hearts. They’re seen as a welcome alternative the digital music, and their popularity shows no signs of decreasing.
One of the main concerns surrounding vinyl records is their environmental impact. As vinyl sales continue to increase yearly, more and more PVC is being made to keep up with the demand. Unfortunately, it is not the most straightforward plastic to recycle.
Chloride, contained in PVC, is a fairly toxic material, which explains why recycling vinyl records is tricky. The flaws with the current materials used to make vinyl have led to the search for a more sustainable and eco-friendly alternative.
This has involved taking plastic washed up on beaches from the ocean and recycling it into vinyl records. Artist Nick Mulvey first experimented with this method in 2019, and the results were pretty promising.
Despite this experiment’s small-scale success, many vinyl records are produced daily using PVC as the core material. Like CDs and cassette tapes, vinyl records have a carbon footprint that will hopefully be reduced in the future.
Many assume that digital music formats, such as streaming platforms, have a little environmental impact, but that’s not entirely true. The files all must be hosted, which requires electricity and power.
As many industries move towards greener practices, it’s expected that alternatives to PVC will be explored for creating records in the future.