The appliances around us are quietly plasticized, with the advancement of plastic instead of steel, in the interior of home appliances, screws, gears and other structural parts began to use plastic; in the exterior of home appliances, plastic plasticity can be transformed into any shape. Plastic in home appliances on the “both inside and outside” is actually attributed to a technology - modification.
With the development of plastic modification technology and the improvement of people's living standards, modified plastics in the home appliance industry is becoming more and more widely used, kitchen appliances, personal care products, are used in modified plastics.
Take small home appliances as an example, common small home appliances are electric pressure cooker, induction cooker, noodle machine, steamed bread machine, soybean milk machine, cooking machine, juicer, water boiler, hairdryer, hair straightener, razor and so on. Small home appliances in the process of using frequent contact, easy to wear, long-term contact with water, oil, salt, easy to corrode, long-term use at high temperatures, easy to age, long-term light, easy to discolor, lose luster, thus requiring the material appearance of expressive, scratch-resistant, easy to process, cost-effective and so on. How to rationally apply modified plastic materials to reduce the cost of small appliances and ensure product quality is one of the important ways to occupy the market!
Common small household appliances plastic selection
(1) microwave ovens

Plastic parts on the microwave oven is mainly external parts, shells, bases, handles, knobs, etc., heat-resistant requirements.

Selected plastic materials are heat-resistant ABS, flame retardant HIPS, heat-resistant PP, PC / ABS alloy.

(2) Rice Cooker

Plastic parts on the rice cooker is mainly external parts, shell, base, cover, handle, switch, etc., heat-resistant. The selected plastic varieties are spray-free ABS, high gloss PP.

(3) Air humidifier

Plastic materials selected are: dyeing ABS, paint-free materials, transparent parts (PC, GPPS), high-gloss PP

Main materials used for exterior parts

Dyed ABS: heat resistance, high surface gloss, dimensional stability easy to process, easy to spray, can be made into different colors according to requirements.

PP plus filler: low cost, good fluidity, dimensional stability and easy to process.

PC material: high strength, high temperature resistance, good transparency

PC/ABS alloy: heat resistance, good surface gloss, dimensional stability and easy to process.

Main materials for decorative parts

Transparent materials: transparent ABS, PMMA, PC, etc.

Plating materials: plating grade ABS

Non-spraying materials: high-gloss non-spraying ABS, non-spraying AS, non-spraying PC/ABS, non-spraying PP.

Spray-free materials have high gloss, metallic color, good processability, bright colors, good fluidity and scratch resistance.

There are six main trends in modified plastics for home appliances

1. Appearance color module solutions

Technology, fashion personalized color home appliances has become an inevitable trend in the current development. The main solutions are:

(1) the use of bright, high-gloss, scratch-resistant materials, etc;.

The material color is richer, such as: bright black, purple red, soft green, bright red, sea blue, etc..

(2) No spraying series -- pearl, metallic color, etc. Pearl, metallic color, etc.;.

Can make plastic products without spraying plating to achieve the same effect as silver white, rustic gold, silver gray and other metals.

(3) Other special effects -- marble, crystal flow color marble, crystal flow color.

Make the color of plastic products reach the same effect as marble or granite.

2. Safe material module solution

Safe appliances have become the basic element of current development Safe appliances have become the basic element of current development.

(1) Highly flame-retardant materials, halogen-free and low-smoke materials

For example, low smoke bromine-phosphorus synergistic high flame-retardant PP/ABS/PS or low smoke halogen-free flame-retardant PP/ABS/PS/PBT materials are used for internal parts or external parts of refrigerators, air conditioners, and motor boxes of washing machines to meet the requirements of 1.5mm 5VA, GWIT850℃, and so on.

(2) High-performance materials

Permanent antistatic color PP/ABS/PS, etc. applied to refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machine shells, etc.; high flame retardant and high leakage tracing ABS/PP/PA/PBT, etc. applied to the electronic control components; conductive PP/ABS/PS/PBT, etc. applied to the internal function parts. To meet the requirements of white permanent antistatic 109, high CTI value (600V), etc..

3. Lightweight material module solutions

It is an inevitable trend for lightweight products to be extended from automobiles to home appliances.

(1) Plastic instead of glass, highly transparent and rigid material

Highly transparent PP/ABS/PMMA/PETG/PES/PSF etc. are used in parts such as observation window, which can meet the requirements of food hygiene or scratch resistance/strength on the basis of transparency.

(2) Plastic instead of steel, rigid strength, high hardness dimensional stability materials

The use of high glass fiber content (> 50%) of high-strength materials and long glass fiber reinforced materials (LFT-PP/PA) used in refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines and other technical structural components; glass fiber reinforced special engineering materials (PPS/PEI) and other applications in wear parts. These materials to meet the structural components of high-strength, wear-resistant, boil-resistant, temperature-resistant and other requirements; in addition to microcellular foaming materials in the same strength, can significantly reduce the weight of plastics used in home appliances, and no warping shrinkage phenomenon, with higher strength and processability.

4. Healthy material module solutions

The concept of health has become the current fashion of home appliance development.

(1) Anti-bacterial / anti-mold materials

Add inorganic environmentally friendly composite antimicrobial masterbatch or organic polymer antimicrobial material, to compound the antimicrobial requirements, can not introduce secondary pollution (Ag, As ions), can be applied to refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, and other internal parts or external parts.

(2) Non-toxic environmentally friendly materials

The use of low VOC volatile materials (PP/PS/ABS, etc.) applied to the internal and external parts of home appliances; the use of non-plasticizer elastomer materials (TPE/TPV) applied to door seals, gaskets. In addition, home appliances and electrical appliances VOC standard requirements are being promoted.

(3) Environmentally friendly adsorption materials

Internal and external parts of home appliances can be used:

PM2.5 adsorption materials (such as Viseka Sonstone filling)

Formaldehyde adsorption materials (activated silica/alumina filling)

Negative ion releasing materials

5. Low-cost material module solutions

Low cost has been the urgent need for the development of home appliances.

(1) New and inexpensive functional materials

The use of cheap polyolefin materials, such as high-gloss PP instead of ABS, ABS/PVC instead of flame-retardant ABS.

Functional parts to plastic instead of steel, copper, glass, aluminum, mirror high fiberglass content PPS instead of electroplated metal parts.

Environmentally friendly high-performance recycled plastics (PP/PS/ABS, etc.) instead of brand new materials, and in line with the U.S. EPEAT Electronic Product Environmental Impact Assessment Tool).

(2) Reduce the amount under the condition of unchanged strength

Adoption of microcellular foam structure materials (PP/ABS/PS, etc.) for internal parts of home appliances; and

Adoption of 3D printing materials (FDM/SLA/SLS) applied to home appliances to make samples quickly and reduce R&D costs; and

Optimize the product structure design through CAD/CAE, so that the internal and external parts of home appliances, product design optimization, reduce the amount of

(3) Industry Chain Integration: Petrochemical Manufacturers Customize Modified Plastics

Petrochemical manufacturers cooperate with modified enterprises to customize specific materials:

High-gloss ABS/PS/PP

Transparent ABS/PS/PP

Self-flame retardant PA6/PA66, long chain nylon, ASA

6. Energy-saving and low-carbon material module solutions

(1) New low-carbon functional materials

Skills low-carbon has become an inevitable trend in the current development of home appliances, biodegradable materials and their alloys (starch, PLA) can be used to do home appliance packaging or non-structural parts; natural fiber reinforced materials (PP) can be used to replace glass fiber reinforced materials; can be used to replace the PS/ABS/PA with a high heat-resistant weathering, high rigidity polypropylene, etc., such as air-conditioning PS skeleton. This is mainly home appliances modified plastics, polypropylene carbon emission index is the lowest (1.95), a large number of polypropylene composite skills low carbon development trend, and can reduce costs.

(2) energy-saving noise reduction functional materials

Household appliances sealing, shock absorbing components using thermoplastic elastomer materials (PVC/TPV/TPE, etc.);.

Low-noise fan using microcellular foam materials (increase coaxiality, improve dynamic balance);;

Compressor damping pads adopt high damping shock absorbing elastomer materials, coming in to reduce noise.