How to cut PVC foam board? CNC or laser cutting?

Before answering the question, let’s first discuss what are the heat distortion temperature and melting temperature of PVC sheets?
The thermal stability of PVC raw materials is very poor, so heat stabilizers need to be added during processing to ensure product performance.

The maximum operating temperature of traditional PVC products is approximately 60 °C (140 °F) when thermal deformation begins to occur. The melting temperature range is 100 °C (212 °F) to 260 °C (500 °F), depending on the manufacturing additive PVC.

For CNC machines, when cutting PVC foam sheet, a lower amount of heat is generated between the cutting tool and the PVC sheet, around 20 °C (42 °F), while when cutting other materials such as HPL, the heat is higher , approximately 40°C (84°F).

For laser cutting, depending on material and power factor, 1. For cutting without metal, the temperature is about 800-1000 °C (1696 -2120°F). 2. The temperature for cutting metal is approximately 2000 °C (4240°F).

PVC boards are suitable for CNC machine tool processing, but not suitable for laser cutting. The high temperature caused by laser cutting can cause the PVC board to burn, turn yellow, or even soften and deform.
Here is a list for your reference:

Materials suitable for CNC machine cutting: PVC boards, including PVC foam boards and PVC rigid boards, WPC foam boards, cement boards, HPL boards, aluminum boards, PP corrugated boards (PP correx boards), solid PP boards, PE boards and ABS.

Materials suitable for laser machine cutting: wood, acrylic board, PET board, metal.