If you are new to customized awards or you are going for the first time and are not sure which materials are suitable for your awards then reading this article is enough. This article will elaborate on what are the most common materials used to make awards and list the advantages and disadvantages of these materials.
The main materials generally used to make medals are: zinc alloy, copper, iron, stainless steel, and aluminum.
Below is a detailed description of these materials:
1. Zinc Alloy
Zinc alloy is the most commonly used material for medals. Zinc alloy has a low melting point and good fluidity, which means it is easy to die-cast into various shapes. The density of zinc alloy is 7.2g/cm3, and because of its characteristics, it is ideal for medals that use a 3D effect, which is better than any other material. Zinc alloy is also a great choice if your medals are more than 3mm thick.
However, zinc alloy also has a disadvantage, that is, it has more burrs, of course, this will be repaired in the later processing of the zinc alloy edge.
2. Copper
Copper is the most expensive of the common materials used to make medals. The density of copper is 8.9cm3, and the stamping process of copper is different from that of zinc alloy. Copper is heavy and suitable for high-quality products. If you put a copper product in your hand, you can clearly feel the high quality of the copper product, so if you have a large budget and want a high-quality product, then copper is a very high quality choice.
3. Iron/stainless steel
The density of iron and stainless steel is about 7.8gcm3, Iron is relatively cheaper, but at the same time the disadvantage is also more obvious, easy to rust, so generally iron products will be used to drip glue, will be isolated from the product and the air. Since the stainless steel material can only be used for the printing and etching process, most customers will choose it for nameplates.
4. Aluminum
Aluminum has a density of about 2.8g/cm3 and is the cheapest compared to other materials. However, there are many limitations. Aluminum products have no texture and are very light in weight, so they cannot be plated, but only oxidized or painted.
In the case of making the same product, the price of the above materials ranked from expensive to cheap: copper > zinc alloy > iron/stainless steel > aluminum
Of course, we are also able to customize other materials for medals, such as PVC, pure gold, wood, and so on.