There's a long list of unique benefits to designing with HI-MACS® Acrylic Solid Surfaces, but chief among them is the way that the new generation material can be thermoformed into dynamic and complex 3D shapes, at both small and large scale. “Especially in commercial spaces, there's an expectation for interiors to have a wow factor. This product makes it easy to achieve dramatic shapes and forms,” explains Laminex National Technical Applications Manager Peter Harrison.
The thermoforming process itself is relatively simple. The HI-MACS® sheet is pre-heated in an oven, transferred into or onto a mould and pressed into shape. These steps can be repeated multiple times, as required, to create separate components, which are then chemically welded together, sanded and buffed to create a visually seamless whole. In this way, complex or large-scale forms can be manufactured in the workshop and then assembled on site.
For smaller projects, or where fine details are required, HI-MACS® can also be sawn, routered and drilled using standard woodworking tools. And, with today's modern manufacturing technologies, fabricators can work with digital design tools to accurately reproduce designs. “It means that designers get precisely what they ask for,” says Harrison, “to the millimetre.”
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