Celuka, Forex, Foamex, Sintra? What PVC Foam Board Names Actually Mean

Ask five suppliers for “PVC foam board” and you may receive five quotations for five different materials — all carrying a name that sounds like a brand, none of them describing what you are actually buying.

This is one of the most expensive communication problems in the trade. A buyer specifies “Celuka” and receives a free-foam board. Another orders “Forex” in one country and gets a completely different density than the “Forex” their colleague sourced elsewhere. The name is not the specification.

This article maps the names you will encounter to the three manufacturing processes and the density ranges they actually represent — so you can order by specification instead of by name.

Why One Material Has Twenty Names

PVC foam board is a generic material family, not a branded product. The names in circulation come from three different sources:

Process names — terms that describe how the board is made, which then became shorthand for the board itself.

Manufacturer brand names — trademarks belonging to specific producers, which in some markets became the generic word for the category.

Regional and distributor names — names that grew up in one market and mean nothing in another.

The Three Processes Behind Every Name

Whatever the board is called, it was made by one of three processes. This is the classification that matters.

Figure 1. Three PVC foam board structures compared by physical cross-section.

1. Free Foam (also called open-cell or standard foam)

A uniform, lower-density foam with no dense skin. Density typically 0.3–0.35 g/cm³, thickness 1–20 mm. Light, economical, and intended for flat applications: advertising boards, screen printing, CNC engraving and short-term displays.

2. Celuka / Integral Skin Foam

A controlled foaming process in which a cooled calibrating die forms a dense outer skin around a lighter core. Density typically 0.4–1.0 g/cm³, thickness 1–30 mm. The hard skin is what allows grooving, screw fixing and use as a structural component.

Figure 2. PVC foam board passing through an industrial calibration line.

Celuka is a process name that became a product name. An important clarification: Celuka is an integral-skin PVC foam board — it is not automatically the same thing as a separately co-extruded multilayer sheet.

3. Co-extrusion

Two extruders feed one die, so the surface layer and the core have separate formulations. That is what makes co-extrusion different from standard Celuka: the surface layer can be optimised purely for hardness, scratch resistance, chemical resistance and weatherability, independently of the core. Density typically 0.5–0.85 g/cm³, thickness 3–30 mm, available in 3 core colours (white / black / yellow) plus 9 surface colours.

Common Names You Will Meet

Third-party brand names above are used for identification only. We are not affiliated with, and do not manufacture, these brands.

What the Process Actually Changes

Density Decodes the Name

If you remember one thing from this article, make it this table. Density is the number that determines behaviour.

Higher density is not automatically better, either. It means greater strength and screw-holding, but also more weight, higher cost and faster tool wear. Match the density to the job.

How to Order Without Using Brand Names

Replace the name in your enquiry with a five-line specification:

Process — free foam, Celuka (integral skin) or co-extrusion

Density — with a tolerance (e.g. 0.55 g/cm³ ± 0.02)

Thickness — with a tolerance

Sheet size — and whether custom sizes are acceptable

Application — what the board will actually be used for

Five Questions to Ask When a Supplier Quotes a Brand Name

Which of the three processes is this — free foam, integral skin or co-extrusion?

What is the nominal density, and what is the tolerance?

What is the thickness tolerance, and is it written in the PI or contract?

Is the sheet white through the core, or is it a white surface over a different core colour?

Can you send the TDS and a physical sample before I commit to the order?

A supplier who can answer all five is selling you a specification. One who can only repeat the brand name is selling you a word.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Forex the same as Celuka?

Not necessarily. “Forex” is a trade name, while “Celuka” describes a process — an integral-skin board with a dense outer skin. A board sold as Forex may or may not be integral-skin, and may be produced at any of several densities. Always confirm the process and the density.

Is Sintra the same as Celuka board?

Sintra is a registered brand of moderately expanded PVC board, while Celuka is a process name for integral-skin foam board. They belong to the same broad material family, but they are not interchangeable terms.

What is the difference between Celuka and co-extrusion?

Celuka forms its skin through the foaming and calibrating process. Co-extrusion uses two extruders and one die so that the surface layer and the core have separate formulations — which lets the surface be optimised for hardness and weatherability independently. Co-extrusion board is the better choice for outdoor and high-touch applications.

How do I know if I have been sent the right board?

Check density first — weigh a precisely cut piece and calculate. Then check thickness with a caliper and inspect the cross-section: an integral-skin board shows a visibly denser outer layer, while a free-foam board is uniform throughout.

Figure 3. Factory QC check using a caliper, scale and cut board samples.

Can Pluswin make a board to my own specification instead of a standard name?

Yes. Density is adjustable from 0.3 to 1.0 g/cm³, colour can be matched to any Pantone reference, and size, thickness, facing material (7 options) and packaging can all be customised. Send us the five-line specification above and we will quote against it.

Send Us Your Specification

Hangzhou Jiaying Trade Co., Ltd. (Pluswin) — manufacturer of Celuka, free foam, co-extrusion, WPC, laminated, marble UV and wall panel products. Established 2006 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.