Corian: Material Review

CNCROi.com increasingly does more and more projects using Corian material, which is essentially highly compressed and heated plastic produced by DuPont.

Corian material is really the go-to for a host of custom applications that CNCROi.com makes on behalf of its clients around the world for several reasons.

Corian is incredibly strong (yet brittle)

Corian material comes in huge sheets that are half-inch (12 mm) thick and it’s incredibly strong.

How strong?

I can literally make a 1 meter x 60 cm long slab and elevate the edges on a chair and jump up and down in the middle and it won’t break.

Ironically, for something so strong, it is rather brittle, let that slab fall on the ground and it will crack and chip.

Corian is incredibly durable!

Unlike regular acrylic (plastic), the strength Corian material also makes it incredibly durable inside and out.

It does not absorb water, it doesn’t flake or break from temperature variations nor does it fade or crack over time (relatively speaking).

You could say the same about stainless steel or wood, yes, but relative timescales are important.

We’ve made monuments out of Corian, CNCROi.com has made name badges out of Corian… even signage and never had we have any problems.

Corian material is a fantastic replacement for granite (far easier to work with) and machines exceptionally well.

Corian is easy to work with and refresh!

What makes Corian a wonderful material for kitchens around the world is that it’s easy to work with AND easily refreshed.

If you happen to scratch, stain or otherwise screw-up the surface, a quick sanding refreshes the surface back to new.

It can also be very nicely buffed and glued together to make bigger pieces or 3D assemblies like custom corporate awards or even Corian name badges.

Corian material also plays very nice with both our CNC router and CNC laser, each produce unique and really nice results for a huge variety of custom projects requiring some of or entirely made from Corian.

Corian plays nice with material combinations, wood through metal!

Corian has LOTS OF COLORS

CNCROi.com has access to the full gamut of Corian material colors and styles, here’s a quick overview of what is available!

It’s amazing the huge variety of projects where Corian fits nicely into, you want a long-lasting corporate award that’s blue? Well, if painted or paint filled wood or typical acrylic doesn’t suit your fancy, here’s something that looks sharp and makes just as strong an impression!

Corian material looks great because it can be easily paint filled with a contrasting colors without any of the grain seepage that happens with just about any other material out there.

What Corian isn’t good for

Of course, with all the positives of any material, there are some downsides and Corian is no different.

As mentioned, it’s incredibly brittle, so if you want us to make something out of Corian material where there is a strong chance of it falling or being hit by something, metal is a better choice or even wood for that matter.

Corian is easy to work with, and shape to spec but it does have some design limitations, if we are making an award like the above, Corian material is a fine replacement for that Maple, but if you wanted something where the inside of all the letters was cut straight out, the costs would quickly go in the “nuts expensive” zone.

Unlike wood, you don’t have the chipping issues with making beveled edges like the custom Corian house number signs above nor are there any splinters or knots… or huge material density variations but it also doesn’t have the same “feel” as wood.

What makes wood an amazing material is how “warm” it makes a room, Corian on the hand, does seem “cold” by comparison regardless of what we do with it, it’s just “too perfect” a material.

Corian material is dramatically more expensive in both raw form and to work with machine wise, it’s very much a premium product in every sense of the word and if you want us to make you Corian cutting boards, expect to require your knives to be needing sharpening far more often than their wooden alternatives, as Corian dulls blades fast.

Applications where Corian is tops!

Just off-hand based on previous experience, CNCROi.com has used Corian material for…

• table number stands
• cutting boards
• name badges
• signage
• house number indicators
• vineyard locators
• tabletops
• corporate awards
• sporting trophies
• artwork
• … and the list goes on.

What it always comes down to is what is your design, budget and how many do you need.

CNCROi.com has had some customers contact us wanting another material but at the end of the day, their application was best done using Corian and of course, we’ve also had customers contact us wanting something made out of Corian but we ended-up using another material instead.

For instance, we can totally make custom coasters using Corian material but if your budget doesn’t support it, or you want something that’s semi-transparent, then acrylic is a wonderful alternative.

As I tell my customers, there is no PERFECT MATERIAL out there, there is just the material that best suits your requirements.

I wouldn’t suggest custom welding tags made out of wood anymore than I would use Corian material as a measuring business card.

Could CNCROi.com make the above measuring and focusing card out of Corian? You bet!

But remember how I mentioned how brittle Corian was? Well, at 0.05″ thick, it just wouldn’t last in your wallet and paint filling would make it even thinner where it’s required and it would probably break in the finishing process and cost you way more than the anodized aluminium alternative.

Metal in this case has the perfect strength, resolution and colors for this specific application.

Could CNCROi.com make you a custom rubber stamp using Corian? Absolutely!

But we have a problem, Corian material doesn’t absorb ink very well and it’s incredibly hard, the machining of it to fit within a Trodat 5212 Professional Self-Inking stamp could totally be done by us, but the results would be expensive and far below the quality threshold for the application.

Rubber is used for stamps because it has just he perfect mix of hardness (durometer), absorption and ink adhesion.

Could CNCROi.com make the above model using Corian material? Yep!

But we have a problem, cost.

Making the above model out of plywood or MDF could be made at a dramatic fraction of the price as the amount of machining to get the above to fit within the tight tolerances required would be extensive.

If you have a custom project, contact CNCROi.com and we’ll make it for you!