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Do you know the characteristics and classifications of solid surface materials?

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What is Solid Surface

How to Choose Solid Surface

Do you know the characteristics and classifications of solid surface materials?

When we are decorating our house, the materials selection of kitchen countertops will be the key of the kitchen cabinet decoration. We all will consider whether to choose acrylic solid surface as kitchen countertops, but a lot of people know little about it. What’s more, we may fall into a more confused situation because of some introductory article with actually little knowledge on the network OR the unprofessional explanation from sales personnel. Therefore, we become more worried about all kinds of quality problems, such as will acrylic solid surface kitchen countertops crack easily? Is infiltration prone to occur? Is it easy to maintain? As one professional factory and supplier of acrylic solid surface, we feel the need to write this article to introduce professionally about the concept and characteristics of acrylic solid surface materials and let the buyer, owner or designer to quickly understand acrylic solid surface.

Good Acrylic solid surface is the soul of kitchen Cabinet, to withstand passage of time!

1. What Is Acrylic Solid Surface?

The scientific name of acrylic resin artificial stone is Acrylic Solid Surface Materials, which is popularly known as acrylic resin artificial stone or artificial marble solid surface. It mainly composed of Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) or improved resin made by Unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) and MMA and then mix Aluminum hydroxide as the filler, adding particles, pigment and other auxiliary materials, and finally merges into polymer composites by vacuum continuous casting system. Acrylic solid surface is created by DuPont company in the 1960s, in china our domestic production began to produce polyester solid surface material artificial stone products since 1996.

2. Classification Of Acrylic Solid Surface

According to different main raw material, Acrylic Solid Surface can be divided into pure acrylic solid surface and modified acrylic solid surface, their detailed introduction is as follows:

2.1 Pure acrylic solid surface (other names: 100% acrylic artificial stone, acrylic resin artificial stone, MMA solid surface materials)

Main raw materials: 1. Methyl Methacrylate resin (MMA) 2. Aluminum hydroxide [AL(OH)3] 3. Pigment 4. Other additives

Among Pure acrylic Solid Surface sheets, the resin only contains MMA pre-polymerization, so it is called pure acrylic solid surface. It is well known that MMA resin is the main material used for transparent cover of fighter jets or for dentures in hospital, so its performance and hygiene level are quite excellent. Therefore, Pure acrylic solid surface made of this MMA material has better hardness, ability to contact with food, better toughness, property of able to be thermal bending, and it has excellent weather resistance and mechanical and mechanical properties, which will not have natural cracking or yellowing problem even under large temperature difference. It is because of these excellent characteristics that pure acrylic solid surface sheet has, that the manufacturers have the confidence to provide 10 Years Quality Guarantee.

2.2 Modified acrylic solid surface (other names: Composite acrylic solid surface, Polyester solid surface, artificial marble solid surface)

Main raw materials: 1. High quality unsaturated polyester resin with MMA 2. Aluminum hydroxide [AL(OH)3] 3. Pigment 4. Other additives

Modified acrylic solid surface contains 5~8% MMA resin, so it is better and also can withstand a large temperature difference without cracking. Except for inability to thermal bending like Pure acrylic Solid Surface, other performances are second only to 100% acrylic Solid Surface. For example, the water absorption rate is only 0.01%, which means that daily necessaries like vinegar, sauce, coffee, tea stain and milk drinks only stay on its surface rather than penetrate into the material inside. Wipe these stains gently with a cleaning cloth and they will completely disappear. Even if used for 10 years, the plate will be the same as a new one!

2.3 Enginard acrylic solid surface (other names: Calcium acrylic solid surface, Polyester solid surface, CPASS)

Main raw materials: 1. High quality UPR with MMA 2. Aluminum hydroxide [AL(OH)3] 3. Calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) 4. Pigment 5. Other additives

Enginard solid surface—also known as composite acrylic solid surface or polyester solid surface—is formulated by combining a modest share of MMA resin (5–8%) with a high-quality unsaturated polyester matrix (29–32%), inert ATH filler (32–35%), and finely milled CaCO₃ (25–28%), plus pigments and performance-enhancing additives. Although the 5–8% MMA content imparts enhanced surface hardness relative to pure polyester formulations, Enginard cannot be thermoformed like 100% acrylic solid surfaces; its thermal-forming capability is limited due to the dominant polyester phase. The unsaturated polyester resin (29–32%) serves as the structural backbone, offering good mechanical strength and chemical resistance typical of polyester composites. ATH filler (32–35%) provides inherent fire-retardant properties and dimensional stability, helping resist cracking under normal temperature variations. Calcium carbonate (25–28%) acts as a cost-effective stiffness filler, improving rigidity and reducing material costs without compromising surface integrity. Pigments and proprietary additives ensure a uniform, versatile color palette and enhanced UV and stain resistance.

Overall, Enginard solid surface retains the eco-friendly, non-radioactive, and non-flammable advantages of modified acrylic surfaces, delivers reliable anti-cracking performance and high-temperature tolerance, and represents one of the most cost-effective solid surface options for residential and light commercial applications

3. Similarities And Differences Between Pure & Modified Acrylic Solid Surface

2. The reason why the price of pure acrylic solid surface is higher than modified acrylic solid surface is that the price of raw material MMA is nearly twice as much as that of modified acrylic solid surface resin.

1. According to different colors, the density of pure acrylic solid surface generally fluctuates around 1.7 g/cm3, while the density of modified acrylic solid surface around 1.8 g/cm3.

4. The glossiness of pure acrylic solid surface and modified acrylic solid surface is very good (up to 90 gloss unit), with brighter color, particles having a sense of hierarchy and clear transparent texture inside, but the gloss of pure acrylic solid surface can be maintained for a longer time.

3. Both pure acrylic solid surface and modified acrylic solid surface use aluminum hydroxide powder as filling material. With the refractive rate of aluminum hydroxide powder of 1.57, which is very close to that of resin after curing the refractive index of 1.56, when it fills in the resin made of pure acrylic solid surface or modified acrylic solid surface, there will be a delicate sense of jade feeling. At the same time aluminum hydroxide is a kind of flame retardant material itself, which will release water molecules while burning, the product itself is incombustible. No matter pure acrylic solid surface or modified acrylic solid surface, they have excellent fire-resistant performance, whose fire resistance reached CLASS-A (fire performance of non-combustible level).

5. Pure acrylic solid surface in weather resistance (yellowing resistance) is better than modified acrylic solid surface, this is due to the bond energy between Unsaturated Polyester Resin Molecules used in modified acrylic solid surface sheet is lower than pure acrylic solid surface. After a long time of direct sunlight, the energy of light (UV wavelength of 300~400mm) will break the covalent bond of Phthalic resin, resulting in the yellowing phenomenon of Polyester solid surface (white color is slightly obvious, no change in dark color).