the next generation of surfaces

from Joiners Magazine December 2020

Technical Sales Rep

Laminex New Zealand is excited to launch the Alucci™ range. Murray Christensen, Technical Services Team Manager at Laminex shares the details you need to know about Alucci™ and Alucci™ Apex.

What is Alucci™?

Alucci is the next generation of surface material, made in our Laminex Australia plant. The product consists of a base material (mostly paper) which goes through a three-stage coating process. A structured foil is applied and hardened using high energy electron beams; the hardened foil is supplied to our Laminex Australia plant from Europe. Because of the electron beam curing process, the result is an extremely hard product that is non-porous and ultra-smooth.

How did this range come about?

The product was on display at Interzum and has been gaining popularity due to the hardness of the product. This is a great addition to our Laminex range as it positions itself in between Laminates and the hardness of engineered stone.

Where can Alucci be used?

The Alucci range currently consists of ‘Alucci Apex’ which is predominantly used for horizontal benchtops and countertops, but you can also use this for internal doors, furniture, wall linings, splashbacks and upstands (on a substrate).

Alucci Apex needs to be pressed to a substrate (your choice of MDF, particleboard or good quality ply). Like traditional laminates used in a vertical application as a panel would require a balance sheet on the reverse side in either Alucci or a standard laminate of the same thickness (0.7mm).

Describe the unique selling point of Alucci in one sentence

The electronic beam curing creates a superior scratch resistant product that is ultra-matte in colour and silky smooth, with scuffs and abrasions being able to be repaired easily with a melamine sponge.

Share three key important things you want people to know aboutAlucci Apex:

• It’s non-postformable which means you can either clash the edges or use the matching 42x1mm ABS Edgetape

• Due to the natural hardness of the product you can expect a higher wear rate on the tooling, this is consistent with any harder wearing surface product available in the market.

• There are six decors in the Alucci Apex range, some will have the same name as standard Laminex Formica Laminates (e.g. Green Slate) but the colour tones are diﬀerent which isn’t a defect but a result of the electron beam curing.

What do others think of Alucci?

We share some feedback and tips from fabricators that have worked with Alucci in the last couple of months;

“We had Alucci Apex Black on display at the Tauranga Homeshow and the crowd loved the touch and feel of the product. We are happy to push this as a high-end option for benchtops, and have jobs conﬁrmed with the product already.”

Stephen Parr, Manager, Prestige Kitchens and Joinery

“We found that working with Alucci ™ Apex it was imperative to have sharp tools. It is a hard but brittle product so having a newly sharpened blade eliminates any chipping. We also found that by removing the protective ﬁlm, it allowed for a cleaner cut. Any minor marking was easy to remove using a ‘magic sponge’. The hardness of the product makes it super abrasive on milling heads. To overcome this, we ensured a clean cut oﬀ the saw and went with no milling on the edgebanders.”

Dion Hutcheson, Cab Manager, Greenmount Espies

“For many years we saw Formica Black as the standard bearer for dark laminates, In recent times the Formica ARtouch Black provided a signiﬁcant improvement in performance, but I see Alucci as the new benchmark product when specifying dark colours. I do suggest the product is manufactured with appropriate care. Invest in tooling and time and you can create a fantastic endproduct. It’s a value-add product and a great new addition to the Laminex portﬂoio.”

David Shelling, Production Manager, Topzone

If you’d like to ﬁnd out more visit laminex.co.nz or speak to your Laminex Sales Representative.

Luxurious Matte Surfaces

Alucci™ Apex. A new generation of materials.