If you've heard a supplier call the same material traffolyte, phenolic, lamacoid or Gravoply, you're not wrong to be confused — they're almost always talking about the same thing. It's a two-layer (or three-layer) engraving laminate: a coloured cap bonded to a contrasting core, cut with a laser or rotary tool to reveal the core underneath. The name just depends on which country you're standing in, and sometimes which brand the supplier happens to stock. Here's how the naming actually breaks down, what the material is regardless of what you call it, and what to ask for when you're ordering in Australia.
One material, four names
| Term | Where it's used | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Traffolyte | Australia, UK | The common trade name across the Australian and UK electrical/engraving industry. Originally a specific product, now used generically for the material class. |
| Phenolic (labels/laminate) | United States | Describes the resin base historically used in the core layer. Used in the US the way "traffolyte" is used in Australia — as the generic trade term. |
| Lamacoid | Canada | Canadian trade term for the same category of engraved laminate — control panel labels, legend plates, equipment tags. |
| Gravoply | Australia and elsewhere (brand name) | A specific manufacturer's product line (Gravotech / Gravograph), not a separate material — one of several branded engraving laminates alongside Rowmark and Trolase. |
None of these describe a chemically different product family. They describe the same construction — a thin coloured surface layer bonded to a contrasting core — named after wherever the trade term took hold, or after a specific manufacturer's product.
Where "traffolyte" comes from
The name traces back to a UK product first produced in 1927 at the Trafford Park works in Manchester, for transformer labels, before later changing hands within the plastics and laminates industry. "Traffolyte" stuck as the generic term in Australia and the UK the way "Thermos" or "Biro" became generic — the original brand name outlived its original owner and now covers the whole material category, regardless of which manufacturer actually made the sheet.
Phenolic: the US term
In the US, the same category of product is called phenolic labels or phenolic laminate, after the phenolic resin traditionally used as the base. In current manufacturing, a lot of what's sold as "phenolic" is actually a modified acrylic (ABS or acrylic-based) laminate rather than true phenolic resin — the term has become generic in the same way traffolyte has, describing the category rather than the exact chemistry of every sheet sold under it.
Lamacoid: the Canadian term
Lamacoid is the equivalent generic term in Canada, covering engraved control panel labels, legend plates and equipment tags made from the same cap-and-core laminate. Canadian suppliers use "lamacoid," "phenolic" and "traffolyte" more or less interchangeably, which tells you how loosely these regional names sit on top of one underlying material class.
Gravoply and the Australian brand names
Gravoply is different from the other three terms on this list — it's a specific manufacturer's brand, made by Gravotech (formerly Gravograph), rather than a regional generic term. In the Australian trade, you'll also hear Rowmark and Trolase used the same way — brand names for competing engraving laminate product lines that all do the same job as "traffolyte" in general. When an Australian supplier says "Gravoply or traffolyte," they're telling you it's the same category of product, just possibly a different manufacturer's sheet stock.
What the material actually is
Strip away the naming and the construction is consistent across all of these: a thin coloured cap layer (roughly 0.1–0.3mm) bonded to a contrasting core layer that makes up the bulk of the sheet thickness. Engraving — by laser or rotary cutter — removes the cap in the engraved areas, exposing the core colour underneath. The base resin is usually modified acrylic or a phenolic-type resin, depending on the manufacturer and grade.
2-ply vs 3-ply — what actually differs
Most labels use standard 2-ply construction — one cap colour over one core colour, giving a single engraved colour contrast. 3-ply material adds a third layer, which allows a design to engrave to two different depths and reveal two different colours from the one sheet — useful for logos, multi-colour graphics, or labels that need a colour-coded border with a different-coloured text field inside. For standard switchboard, valve tag and equipment ID work, 2-ply covers the vast majority of jobs; 3-ply is a specialty order for multi-colour designs.
Surface colour vs core colour
When you're choosing a colour combination, you're really choosing two things: the surface (cap) colour that shows as the background, and the core colour that shows as the engraved text. The common Australian electrical and industrial combinations are black-on-white, white-on-black, white-on-red (emergency/danger), black-on-yellow (caution) and white-on-green (safety/water). These pairings aren't arbitrary — several are tied to Australian Standards colour conventions for specific label purposes, which is worth checking before you pick a combination purely on looks.
UV behaviour — the bit that gets oversold
Because the engraved legend is the exposed core material rather than printed ink, it physically can't fade the way a printed label does — there's no ink layer to break down. That's a genuine, verifiable advantage. What's less often mentioned is that the plastic substrate itself can still chalk or yellow under years of direct sun, even though the text stays legible. For anything mounted outdoors long-term — meter boxes, external plant, coastal sites — ask for a UV-stabilised grade. Indoors or inside an enclosure, standard material is the right call and will outlast most of what's built around it.
Why this matters when you're researching or buying online
The naming mess isn't just trivia — it affects how people actually search for and source these labels. An Australian electrician looking for a supplier might search "traffolyte," a facilities manager working from an imported spec sheet might search "phenolic label," and a Canadian-trained tradesperson working in Australia might reach for "lamacoid" out of habit. All three should land on the same product. If a supplier's site only uses one of these terms, you can end up assuming they don't stock what you need, when in fact they stock exactly the right material under a different name. Worth checking the spec (2-ply vs 3-ply, thickness, colour combination) rather than ruling a supplier out on terminology alone.
What to ask for in Australia
You don't need to know the brand to order correctly. Give your supplier the size, the colour combination (surface over core), the thickness (0.8mm–1.5mm covers most switchboard and equipment labels; 3mm for standalone plaques), whether it needs to be 2-ply or 3-ply, and whether it's going outdoors. Whether the sheet in the machine is branded Traffolyte, Gravoply, Rowmark or Trolase makes very little practical difference to the finished label — what matters is the spec, not the trade name on the box.
Related Guides
- What is Traffolyte? The Ultimate Guide to Engraved Plastic Labels
- Traffolyte vs Acrylic Labels: Which One to Choose
- Laser Engraving vs Rotary Engraving
Ordering engraving laminate labels
Whatever you call it, our Label Designer prices it the same way — pick your size, colour combination and thickness, and get an instant price. Every common 2-ply combination is in stock, with 3-ply available on request. See real per-label pricing in our traffolyte label prices guide, or the full traffolyte labels range.
References
- Trade and industry terminology for engraving laminate — traffolyte (AU/UK), phenolic labels (US), lamacoid (Canada)
- Gravoply (Gravotech/Gravograph), Rowmark and Trolase — branded engraving laminate product lines used in Australia
This article summarises general trade terminology and material knowledge and is not a substitute for a manufacturer's technical data sheet — confirm specific chemical composition and performance ratings with your material supplier where it matters for the application.