What Are Aluminium Composite Panels (ACPS) And Their Advantages?

The sandwiched panel is a panel made of three layers: a low-density core sandwiched between two thin sheets. It is a preferred panel where a high stiffness-to-weight ratio is required. Sandwiched panels are lightweight when compared to other materials.

One of the sandwiched panels is the aluminium composite panel (ACP). It consists of two coil-coated aluminium sheets with a polymeric core. It is mainly used in facades of buildings, exterior cladding, false ceilings and more. It has good impact strength and is easy to fabricate and is cheap to produce.

The standard core used for making ACP is Polyethylene (PE). This material does not have good flame resistance and therefore has to be treated. The ACP - FR (Fire Rated) panels are considered to be safer as they have 30% of the PE core. The ACP can be coated with PVDF which is highly non-reactive thermoplastic.

Manufacturing ACP
First, the aluminium to be used is cleaned because it may have collected dirt which affects the adhesion. Next, a chemical film is formed on the surface for protection. This coating helps to increase the oxidation resistance of the aluminium coil. This is followed by a coating process where a fluorocarbon coating is done on the aluminium coil.

First, aluminium composite sheets are produced and then the ACPs are made from them. Most powerful machines are used to make ACPs. Aluminium sheets are mixed into the core material. The core material is melted by spaying hot air and pasted onto the aluminium sheet. 

Both the sheets are then fed into punching rollers and compressed with a heavy load in cooling conditions. The aluminium composite sheets are produced.

Depending on the thickness, the core material is placed between the two aluminium sheets and compressed with a heavy load. This is done under raised temperature and cooling. This makes the bonding heavy between the metal and the material. The aluminium composite panels are produced.

Advantages