There are various types of decorative laminates, and the different ways in which these laminates are usually classified.
Decorative Laminates are a blend of paper and plastic resins sheets which are hard and brittle having a thickness of around 1 mm, and are widely used as an overlay over wood. The applications in the case of laminates are such as the case of laminated table tops, wood panels, or other wooden furniture.
The laminate sheets have a decorative surface (made using decorative printed paper) and are manufactured in a wide variety of designs, colour patterns and textures.
Classification is based on manufacturing process
High pressure Laminates and low pressure laminates
The manufacturing process of laminates involves soaking brown paper, decorative paper, and translucent paper in plastic based resins. The brown paper which forms the base is soaked in phenol formaldehyde, while the other two papers are soaked in melamine resin. The soaked papers after drying become hard and brittle. These papers are then pressed and bonded together under high pressure and temperature.
Depending on the amount of pressure used in the bonding process, laminates can be classified as High Pressure Laminates or Low Pressure Laminates.
Regular Laminate sheets and Compact Laminates
The regular laminate sheets usually have a thickness that ranges from 0.6 mm to 1.5 mm. There are also other thicker types of laminates manufactured called Compact Laminates which have a thickness ranging from 3 mm to 30 mm.