DIBOND® Aluminum Composite Panel

DIBOND® is aluminum composite material: two pre-painted 0.012 inch aluminum skins bonded to a fire-rated polyethylene core. The result behaves like sheet metal that a sign shop can actually work with - rigid and flat, about half the weight of solid aluminum, and it cuts and routs on ordinary shop equipment instead of needing a brake and a shear.

The reason it gets specified over cheaper composite panel is flatness. 3A calls it the flattest panel on the market and the practical claim behind that is that it will not bow or oil can - the shallow waviness that shows up across a large face in raking light and ruins an expensive printed graphic. If the panel is going on a wall where people will see it edge-on, that is the property you are paying for.

It is built for print. The surface takes digital and screen printing directly, on BOTH faces, and the premium coating is there to protect the graphic rather than to be looked at on its own. It also mounts well, which is why it is the default substrate for face-mounted photographic work.

Fabrication: it saws, routs and drills on standard shop equipment, and two things set it apart from solid sheet. It can be routed and returned - a V-groove cut through the back skin and core lets the panel fold into a dimensional edge - and it can be roll-formed into curves. Both are done cold. Use carbide tooling and support the panel properly; the skins are thin and the core is soft, so a dull cutter tears the aluminum rather than shearing it.

On fire performance, stated exactly as 3A publishes it: the fire-rated polyethylene core is self-extinguishing and the panel carries a Class A rating to ASTM E-84. Two things we will not tell you, because 3A does not publish them. There is no flame spread or smoke developed index - only the Class A classification itself. And there is NO NFPA 285 result for DIBOND®; that test belongs to a different product line. If your job is an exterior wall assembly that needs NFPA 285, this is not the panel and we will quote you one that is.

It is UL 879 certified for electric sign components. That is worth having and worth reading precisely: it is a certification for use as a component in electric signage, not a blanket UL listing of the panel for every purpose. If your inspector wants the certificate, ask us and we will get it.

The coating is a coil-coated baked polyester. It is NOT PVDF - PVDF is the architectural line, and the two have different expectations for color hold on a long-life exterior facade. For signage, display and general exterior work the polyester finish is what the product is built around and it does well outdoors. For a thirty-year building facade, ask us about the architectural panel instead.

One dimensional note that catches people. DIBOND® is sold in millimeters and 3 mm is 0.118 inch - NOT 1/8 inch, which is 0.125. Seven thousandths does not sound like much until a panel will not seat in a channel letter return, a routed groove or an extrusion cut for imperial stock. The unbranded aluminum composite panel we also carry is 1/8 inch. Check which one your detail was drawn for.

Both faces ship with a protective film on them. Leave it on through fabrication and peel it after installation where you can - and note that the film is printed with orientation arrows, which matter on the brushed finishes.

Sold by the sheet, in the size listed. Tell us what you need cut and we will quote the cut piece - we cut composite panel daily and it is usually cheaper than buying a full sheet and scrapping the offcut.

DIBOND® and BUTLERFINISH are registered trademarks of 3A Composites. We are an independent distributor and are not affiliated with or endorsed by them. The generic description of the material is aluminum composite material, ACM.