What Is The Difference Between Melamine And Plastic Laminate

Low pressure laminate also known as pre finished board or melamine is a thin single melamine paper bonded directly to a substrate usually craft wood or particle board.

What is the difference between melamine and plastic laminate. Melamine is a plastic coating material also used as a surface for plywood and fiberboard. Laminate countertop installation. Melamine is a laminate but not all laminates are melamine. Melamine panels and plastic laminate used to build cabinets office furniture and display counters and white boards are often referenced interchangeably but the two materials are slightly different.

It s what you get when thin paper is applied at 300 500 psi on a substrate board. Just like laminate melamine is made using paper and resin but the melamine costs less to produce. Melamine is a type of plastic found in many reusable plates utensils and cups. Left panel in the photo plastic laminate also known as high density plastic laminate hdpl begins with a resin coated paper very similar to a melamine and is backed with phenolic resin layer typically between 1 32 and 1 16 thick.

Unless you are buying factory made post form countertop segments building a laminate countertop whether it is done by a professional or diyer involves first building a core of mdf or plywood then cutting pieces of plastic laminate and gluing them to the core using contact cement. Also called high pressure laminate this is popular among common people by the name of formica to make this laminate a very high pressure of 1400psi is used over 6 8 layers of kraft paper. These papers have been glued together and finally a melamine plastic is pressed at the top. Direct pressure laminate otherwise known as low pressure laminate is what is commonly referred to as melamine it is manufactured under 2 to 3 5 meganewtons of pressure per square metre and the final product is a sheet of melamine resin a highly durable type of thermosetting plastic bonded with a.

The fda has ruled that melamine is safe to use but that you shouldn t use it in a microwave. Although different enough to be considered a separate option melamine is technically a laminate product.