lamination

Other forms: laminations

The process of making a material thicker and sturdier by adding layers of plastic is lamination. You can thank lamination for protecting your school I.D. from the soda you just spilled all over it.

For printers, lamination is a common technique used to protect paper documents from being stained, smudged, or torn. The process involves layers of clear, filmy plastic being permanently bonded to the original paper. Lamination is also used by car manufacturers to create windows that don't shatter easily, with the plastic sealed between two thin sheets of glass. The Latin root is lamina, "thin slice, leaf, or layer."

Definitions of lamination

1. noun

   bonding thin sheets together
   types:

   veneering

   the act of applying veneer

   type of:

   creating from raw materials

   the act of creating something that is different from the materials that went into it
2. noun

   a layered structure
   types:

   laminate

   a sheet of material made by bonding two or more sheets or layers

   plastic laminate

   a laminate made by bonding plastic layers

   plyboard, plywood

   a laminate made of thin layers of wood

   type of:

   construction, structure

   a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts