Abs, methyl methacrylate, lacquered, what do they mean?
Thermoforming, quenching, die casting, what are they?

Infabbrica Glossary can help you!


Thermoplastic sintetic resin; it is obtained by the co-polymerization of the acrylonitrile, the budatiene and the styrene. It's a good acid resistant but it's not resistant to chlorinated solvents. ABS is dust-tight and chrushproof. Because of these characteristics ABS is a suitable material for the manufacturing output and furnishing. It can also be used for the manufacturing of edges and leaves to decorate the surface. The well-known building blocks LEGO are an example of ABS material.

Dichroic ahalogen

In the dichroic ahalogen lamps there is a cold mirror reflector reflecting the light visible in a beam, while the useless infrared rays pass through the reflector and dispel themselves in the back of the lamp.


The halogen lamp is a particular incandescent lamp but it has some essential characteristics, which differentiate it from the common ones. Iodine, kripton and, sometimes, xenon are added to the gas inside the bulb in order to allow the filament to get warm up to 3000 k. This increases the bright efficiency and rises up the color temperature. In the halogen lamps, tungsten evaporates because of the high temperature and reacts with gas, creating tungsten halide. Afterwards the compound comes in contact with the incandescent filament, decomposes itself and leaves tungsten on the filament realizing a cycle (called halogen cycle). This way the long-life of an halogen lamp may double the long-life of an incandescent normal one, although the filament is a lot warmer. 

Alveolar Aluminium

The alveolar aluminium is a material divided in panels made of two tin foils separated by a honeycomb structure (in aluminium or others materials). Very lightweight and flexion resistant.


Anodizing (also called anodic oxidation) is an irreversible electrochemical process through which a protective layer of aluminium oxide grows up on the treated element surface and protects it from corrosion. The material is subjected to an out-and-out superficial change: the naked metal reacts with the oxygen developed in the anode during the electrodeposition process and creates aluminium oxide or alumina.

Melamine resins

The melamine resins are thermosetting synthetic resins obtained through polycondensation of formaldehyde with melamine. We get a colorless, odorless resin, which is resistant to water, chemical agents, abrasions, heat and with a remarkable transparency to bright radiations, above all to violet-purple. The compound coming from polycondensation is drained, grinded and additived. The obtained powder is printed at 130-170 °C. The crosslinking takes place during the presswork forming an infusible polymer. Melamine resins are used to manufacture plastic laminates (such ant and arborite), kitchen furniture. A special type of melamine resin is the foam of melamine-formaldehyde, used most of all as insulating and soundproof material. There are finished melamine resins which simulate the wood skin openings creating prominent roughness or in reverse smooth laminates suitable for varnishing.

Melamine resins


Regenerated leather

The regenerated leather is an ecological material primarily composed by 80% of leather fibre (generally manufacturing waste materials) and 20% of natural latex.


Polyethylene terephthalate (trade names: Arnite, Impet and Rynite, Ertalyte,Hostaphan, Melinex and Mylar films, and fibres Dacron, Diolen, Tergal, Terital, Terylene and Trevira) is part of the polyester family and is a thermoplastic resin made of phthalate, suitable for food contact. It may exist in an amorphous form (transparent) or semicrystalline (white and opaque) depending on the manufacturing process and on the thermic story. It is also used for its electric characteristics, chemical resistance, high temperatures performances, flammability, printwork speed.

Epoxy resins

The epoxy resins are thermosetting polymers containing a three-atom epoxy ring in the liquid precursor. The epoxy resins are vitreous at room temperature and are mixed with thinners in order to lower the viscosity at appropriate levels to impregnate fibres. Thinners are styrene monomer and styrene liquid. The viscosity of an epoxy resin without thinner may vary a lot from liquid to solid. The epoxy resins are provided of superior physical characteristics and quicker reaction times compared to the polyester and vinylester ones but its price is higher.


The exstrusion is an industrial manufacturing process of plastic deformation which allows the production of uniform section pieces (for example pipes, bars, section bars, plates). It's used for metallic materials (such as steel, aluminium or copper), plastic materials (such as rubber or thermoplastic materials) and other materials.


The masonite is a material composed by pressed wood fibre, usually without addition of sticky substances. The realization of this material is very similar to the paper one: wood is worn out and smashed, then mixed with water and sticky substances. This mixture is cut by a machinery, then placed on steel sheets with a thin stainless steel net, crushed and cooked in a press. The press has a variable temperaure depending on the mixture thickness and a pressure of about 300 bar. After few minutes of cooking, the masonite is ready to be cut according to the desired dimension. It's usually produced in panels of variable depth (from 1,5 to 12 mm) and used as economic back face of furniture and drawers as a replacement for plywood or common wood.


Formaldehyde (IUPAC name: methanol) is the simplest among the aldehydes. Its chemical formula is CH2O, its number CAS is 50-00-0. In  a water solution of 37% is marketable known as formalin. The molecule is composed by a carbon atom (hybridization sp2) in the middle of a triangle almost equilateral with two hydrogen atoms and an oxigen one at the vertex. Formaldehyde is at a gaseous state at room temperature, but you can find it usually in other states: as water solution at 37% or as paraformaldehyde (IUPAC name: 1,3,5-trioxan), cyclic molecule formed by the union of three molecules of Formaldehyde.




It's a mechanical process which consists in imprinting in relief soft materials such as leather, fabric, paper, plastic and so on. The embossing has an estetic purpose: it may hide the usury of the manufactured article and can simulate materials belonging to different families like leather or wood. It's used to realize the covers of binding books.


The veneering is a carpentry process which consists of covering a not precious timber or a panel with a wafer-thin wood slice called veneer. In the case of wood, the type used is fine (root of thuya, poplar, walnut, olive tree, mahogany, rosewood, cherry tree and different typologies of esotic woodwind coming from Africa and Latin America) in order to give to the product a high quality essence.

Fluorescent Lamp

It's a particular type of discharge lamp characterized by an indirect visible light emission, which means that the light is not directly beamed from the ionized gas, but from a fluorescent material.


Larch is a conifer tree which belongs to the Pinaceae family. The only european existing spieces in Italy is the Larix decidua Miller. Among the italian spontaneous flora, larches are the only conifers whose leaves aren't persistant (they arent't evergreen and they loose their leaves in autumn and winter). Among this family you can find the calabrian and corsican Pinus Larix, which belongs to the Pinus genus. This genus includes deciduous trees which can reach up to 40 meters high. Leaves are needle-shaped and are bundled in groups of 20-40.


Latex is an emulsion of milky appearance and sticky consistency usually white, seldom yellow, orange or red, which is in determined cells (laticifers) of several superior plants and inside mushrooms of Lactarius genus. We speak about "Latex foam" for technical purposes: mattresses, for example, are created with latex foam, which is a primary compound (mix of latex and air). Today latex has a widespread industrial application. The bigger part of latex extracted from plants is transformed into dry rubber. Latex is also growing in the transformer industry. This industry uses it in combination with other materials to manufacture common usage goods (sanitary articles: sterilized gloves, condoms, mattresses, toys, shell, stuffings, pneumatics, carpets, ecc.).

Lsl o intrallam

Laminated strand lumber is similar to osb but it's composed by poplar wood shavings with particular dimensions (often about 25x300 mm and 0,8 mm thick) bound by waterproof glues in order to form an homogeneous structured panel. Those panels are very resistant to bad weather. Shavings can be lenghtwise or crossed oriented. The first ones are often used for floor beams or roofs, while the second ones are used for pluggings (walls, roofs, floor beams ecc..) because they have more uniform mechanical characteristics towards both directions.


Mdf (medium density fiberboard) comes from wood: it's the most well-known and widespread fibre panel; indeed fibre panels are divided in three categories according to the process employed and to the density: low (ldf), medium (mdf), high (hdf).


Il polymethacrylate (PMMA) is a plastic material formed by polymers of methyl methacrylate, ester of methacrylic acid. Chemically it is the polymer of the methyl methacrylate. In the common language the term methacrylate is usually referred to this polimer. It is also called: Acrivill, Deglas, Limacryl, Lucite, Oroglas, Perclax, Perspex, Plexiglas, Resartglass, Vitroflex, Trespex

Marine multilayer

The marine plywood is a multilayer wood particularly rigid and light, humidity resistant.

Nichel processing

Nichel processing is a superficial treatment which can be applied to some materials. There are two different processing methods, electrolytic nichel processing and chemical one. The treatment aims to modify the superfcial characteristics of the processed materials (hardness, resistance to external agents, ecc..). Chemical nichel processing is extensively preferred to the electrolytic one about the treatment of mechanical pieces requiring extreme precision.

Laminate faced

The laminate faced is a chipboard wood panel covered on one or both sides by melamine paper, which is a synthetic material made of sheets of wafer-thin paper (around a tenth of mm) impregnated of melamine resin. The use of this paper is the reason why this laminate is often called melamine panel. The pael can be made of chipboard (also recycled woods), or masonite, plywood, printed wood, osb or mdf. The development of always more realistic papers and the gift of hardness and resistance to scratches and solvents make this product very used within the furnishing world. Sometimes a superficial varnishing is done to embellish the product: this process makes the panel surface almost indistinguishable from veneer articles even to the expert eyes. This influences the costs of productions.


Nylon is a particular family of synthetic polyamides. The term nylon refers to aliphatic polyamides, but sometimes we use this word improperly to indicate the class of polyaramides (to which belong kevlar and nomex), which are instead aromatic polyamides. Nylon is used most of all as textile fibre and to produce little manufactured products.


Oriented strand board, oriented scale panel: panels made of many not well-defined layers (on the contrary of plywoods). We could define them "woodflakes", which means long and thin wood shavings called "strandt", tied by a binder. The panel structure is thought in order to make it remarkably one-way resistant. That's why the scales of the outer layers run parallel to one of the two layers of the panel. Particular attention is dedicated to the dimensional relationship of the scales where the longitudinal dimension usually prevales on the transversal one, in a ratio of 10:1.This improves the one way flexion resistance.


Polycarbonates are resistant to mineral acids, to aliphatic hydrocarbons, to petrol, to fats, to oils, to alcohols (except methyl alcohol and water below 70 °C). Above this temperature water attacks the polymer incouraging a gradual chemical decomposition. Biodegrability is slow and requires long periods of time.


Polyethylene is the simplest of the synthetic polymers and is the most common among the plastic materials. It's usally indicated by the acronym "PE". Its chemical formula is (-C2H4-)n where n can arrive up to several million. Chains can vary in length and ramification. Polyethylene is a thermoplastic resin, it looks like a transparent solid (amorphous consistance) or white (crystalline consistance), it has excellent insulating characteristics and chemical stability. It's a very versatile material and one of the most economic plastic materials; it's usually used as electric cable insulator, plastic bags, holders, pipings, internal strattum of aseptic holders for feed liquids ("Tetra Brik Aseptic") and lots more.


Polyvinyl chloride, commonly abbreviated PVC, is the third most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC is widely used in construction because it is durable, cheap, and easily worked. It can be made softer and more flexible by the addition of plasticizers, the most widely used being phthalates. In this form, it is used in clothing and upholstery, electrical cable insulation, inflatable products and many applications in which it replaces rubber. It's considered safe and stable for technlogy applications at room-temperature but is really dangerous if burns at high temperatures and in suitable establishments because of the existance of chlorine in the molecule, liberatable as hcl with the possibility of producing dioxin or for realising of the monomer. Its use is widespread in several areas becouse of its characteristic of persistency and resistance.




Expanded polyuretan for the filling of pillows, mattresses, pillows with sections of small dimensions.


Siphon is an hydraulic element inserted in a pipe and realized through a "u" shaped curve pipe. It's useful to create an obstacle (an "hydraulic top") against bad smell thanks to the presence of residual water in its owbow, water that occupies the transit section of smell. There are several types of siphon used in hydraulic establishments: goose-neck ( "P" or "S" shaped and space-saving model), bottle shaped, ecc.. Every single siphon is characterized by the voluntary stagnation zone of the washing fluid of the sanitary device, formed by a tank or an oxbow.

Push-pull system

Opening system for drawers and shutters without handles with pressure opening.

Lucid membrane mirror

Cut glass has a sharp and irregular edge, which is eliminated through a grinding process (manually performed or through CNC machinery) that removes and uniforms the edge of the glass in many different ways, according to the desired processing. Round lucid membrane: the edge looks rounded and lucid, high ranking of processing. Flat lucid membrane: the edge looks lucid and perpendicular to the surface but the junction is bevelled at 45°; high-ranking processing. Raw membrane: same of lucid membrane, it little differs because the edge doesn't look lucid but opaque and has a bigger roughness. Bevelling: glass edges are grinded 10-40 mm in height to create a 7° angle relative to the surface of the glass. The edge grinding is occasionally made for costs purposes in particular on colored glasses in order to limit the thermal shock fenomenon although for this fenomenon the distemper of the sheet is advised.


Staron is an extraordinary product coming from Samsung experience. It's a solid and resistant but extremely ductile at the same time. It's hygienic, soft to the touch because of its silkiness and thermoformable to realize very quality design projects. These excellent characteristics, added to the innumerable possibilities of use, make the staron an irreplaceable material suitable for a lot of applications. Staron is provided in plates and can be used as shell for work surfaces and for furnishing panels of offices, banks, medical consulting rooms, private houses and public places and, printed, in beautiful kitchen sinks or baths, which are insertable into kitchen shelves and bathrooms.


Teak or Teck (Tectona, L. 1753) it's a genus of hard wood tropical trees of Verbenacee family. It grows in the south and east-south of Asia and is commonly a component of the tropical and subtropical asiatic forests. The teak is a tree of big, straight and cylindrical trunk, which grows up to 30-40 m in height and 1,5 m in diameter. The lower part of the trunk, above the lowest branches, can exceed 10 m. The Teck wood has a range of colors which vary from pale yellow to bronze and sometimes to red. It contains a natural oily resin which makes it very resistant. Termites don't attack it.

Technology G9

Low energy consumption lamps of same return in lumen.

Shantung fabric

Shantung is a raw silk fabric (tussah), united color, characterized by a coarse surface, very irregular and row aspect. It's used in furnishing with pillows and draperies and in clothing with dresses, skirts and blouses.


Texplast is a synthetic material made of interwined fibres of plastic material, which is able to resist to compression stress, strains, atmospheric agents and UV rays.


Chipboard indicates the wood fibre panels composed by shavings resulting from waste wood materials. Shavings are mixed with thickening materials, then pressed to produce panels: the panels obtained can be different according to the type of shaving. Hydrophobic agents or funicides can be added to glues. The same name indicates the woody material at the base, that is the shavings agglomerate used to produce these panels. These panels are often used for thermoacustic isolation, inner wall plugs, aesthetic covers or for mechanical hardening. They are suitable for use outside because they are water-ice-insect and mushrooms resistant.

Etched glass

It's a glass characterized by a granular surface, obtained by chemical treatment. This treatment involves hydrofluoric acid (it has physicochemical characteristics which corrode glass).

Thermoformed Float glass

Floating glass. The 90% of the flat glass produced in the world, called float glass, is made through the floating system invented by Alastair Pilkington, where the melted glass is poured on an extremity of a melted tin bath. Today this operation is carried out in controlled atmosphere. Glass floats on the tin and expands along the bath surface, forming a flat surface on both sides. Glass cools off and solidifies while is running along the bath, creating an uninterrupted ribbon. The product is then burnished and gets hot again on both sides, that's why it's going to have two perfectly parallel surfaces.

Tempered glass

The tempered glass is obtained through hardening for heat-treatment (tempering). The piece has to be cut according to the requested dimensions and each processing (such as rough edges smoothing, drilling or flare) has to be done before tempering. The tempered glass is about six time more resistant than float glass because its superficial imperfections are kept closed by the combined mechanical tensions, while the internal part is mainly defect-free.


VIRO is a polyethylene fibre of very high quality. It's very flexible È molto flessibile and suitable, with a high tensile strength. The fibre certified production ISO 9001 is subjected to several checks. Each fibre is entirely colored through the transpiring coloring system. Fibres reject the filth and are resistant to temperature changes. The VIRO material lasts long, although it is constantly exposed to light beams and atmospheric agents.


Zama is a resistant,  economic and versatile alloy of zinc.


The zinc-coating is a process by which a zinc shell is applied on a metal manufactured product (usally stell) in order to protect it from a galvanic corrosion: it limits the f