composites · full record

Aluminium composite panel

Two aluminium skins bonded to a polyethylene core: flat, stiff, foldable; its true carbon depends on how much of the aluminium is recycled.

also called ACM · ACP

The numbers

Panel weight: 2.9 (2 mm) · 3.8 (3 mm) · 4.7 (4 mm) · 6.6 (6 mm) kg/m2
Skin thickness: 0.3 mm
Thickness range: 2 · 3 · 4 · 6 mm
Core material: Polyethylene (LDPE), 0.9 g/cm³
Tensile strength: 145–185 MPa
Modulus of elasticity: 70000 MPa
Elongation at break: 3 %
Thermal expansion: 2.4 mm/m per 100 °C temperature difference
Service temperature: −50 to +80 degC

No embodied-carbon figure is shown. We do not yet hold one we are licensed to publish, and an unsourced number is worse than none.

In the library

41 variants on the catalogue · held as sheet and unit · 1.2–3 mm · 4 available to buy

Two thin skins of aluminium bonded to a polyethylene core: stiffer than either alone, dead flat, and the standard for signage and folded structures: score the back, fold a crisp edge, no brake press needed. Its carbon is a composite too: aluminium is one of the most energy-hungry materials we stock when it is virgin, and one of the cheapest when it is recycled, so the panel's true number depends on its recycled content, which is exactly the kind of question this library exists to teach you to ask.

Tips from the Lab

Stiff panel, soft skins. Supported flat it stays dead flat; catch an edge and it dents permanently. · handling
Cut it on the router, never the laser: the aluminium skins reflect and the polyethylene core is not a laser material. · safety
Route a V-groove in the back skin and the panel folds to a crisp edge by hand. No brake press needed. · fabrication
Standard panels have a polyethylene core; fire-rated versions have a mineral one. They look identical. Check which you have before specifying it for anything architectural. · specification

Products

Brands of this material the Lab holds or has worked with.

Valcan
Valcan
Hylite
3A Composites
Dibond
3A Composites
Manufacturer Datasheet

Come and work with it

The Lab holds this material and sells it by the sheet. Visit to see it in person, or ask at the shop.

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Sources

Manufacturer datasheets
Datasheet VALUES cited as facts with a link to source. Imagery all-rights-reserved by default — photograph our own swatches; manufacturer imagery only via per-manufacturer written permission.

Every value on this page names the source it came from and how firmly it is known. Where we hold no figure we are licensed to publish, we show none.