Card mate­ri­als can vary great­ly depend­ing on the appli­ca­tion, but here are some com­mon types:

• Paper or Card­stock:
  Stan­dard paper: Typ­i­cal­ly used for busi­ness cards, greet­ing cards and fly­ers. It comes in a vari­ety of weights and fin­ish­es. Typ­i­cal­ly lighter than card­stock, often around 80 lb (216 gsm) or less.
  Card­stock: Thick­er than stan­dard paper, offer­ing dura­bil­i­ty and a pre­mi­um feel. Often used for busi­ness cards and invi­ta­tions. Card­stock is thick­er and more durable than stan­dard paper. The weight is usu­al­ly ranges from 80 lb (216 gsm) to 110 lb (298 gsm) or more.

• Plas­tic:
  Plas­tic cards are wide­ly used in var­i­ous appli­ca­tions such as cred­it cards, mem­ber­ship cards, ID cards, gift cards, etc. They are more resis­tant to wear and tear than paper cards, mak­ing them suit­able for long-term use. The main plas­tic card mate­ri­als are:
  PVC: Durable and water­proof, often used for ID cards, mem­ber­ship cards and cred­it cards.
  PETG: PETG is known for its excel­lent impact resis­tance and dura­bil­i­ty, mak­ing it suit­able for appli­ca­tions where tough­ness is required.
  PLA: PLA is com­postable under indus­tri­al com­post­ing con­di­tions, mak­ing it a more envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly option than tra­di­tion­al plas­tics.

• Met­al:
  Stain­less steel or alu­mini­um: Used for high-end busi­ness cards or pro­mo­tion­al items. Met­al cards are more resis­tant to wear and tear and last longer than plas­tic cards. They offer a unique look and feel, but can be more expen­sive. The design can be laser engraved, etched or print­ed in full col­or to pro­vide a unique visu­al effect. Met­al cards are a pre­mi­um alter­na­tive to tra­di­tion­al paper or plas­tic busi­ness cards

• Wood:
  Thin wood chips can be used for unique busi­ness cards or pro­mo­tion­al items, pro­vid­ing a nat­ur­al and rus­tic aes­thet­ic. Wood­en cards usu­al­ly use dif­fer­ent types of wood, such as bam­boo, cher­ry wood, maple, etc. Each type of wood has its own unique tex­ture and col­or.

Each mate­r­i­al has its own advan­tages and is cho­sen based on fac­tors such as dura­bil­i­ty, cost, aes­thet­ics and the spe­cif­ic appli­ca­tion of the card. If you don’t know which card mate­r­i­al is suit­able for you, don’t hes­i­tate to con­tact us, HYD­card is always at your ser­vice.