Engineering plastics refer to a class of plastics that can be used as engineering structural parts because of their low density, high specific strength, excellent wear resistance and low coefficient of friction, high heat resistance, electrical insulation, chemical stability, acid/alkali resistance, and with obvious advantages such as free coloring, easy modification, and good processability, it has been widely used in the fields of automobiles, electronics, electrical, communications, transportation, aerospace, machinery, etc., and has become one of the important symbols to measure a country's industrial development level. Modification of engineering plastics due to the limitation of the performance of a single resin, and people's requirements for low cost, high performance and diversified performance of materials are getting higher and higher, and various modified engineering plastics have emerged as the times require. Engineering plastics can be realized through physical, chemical or a combination of physical and chemical methods, including blending (alloying), copolymerization (grafting), and filling reinforcement. Modification can significantly improve the performance of engineering plastics. In addition, one polymer matrix can be used to produce a variety of products with different uses. The production operation is flexible, and it is easy to realize one machine with multiple functions, and realize the serialization and specialization of products.
Introduction to Engineering Plastics
Engineering plastics offer various advantages and, in most cases, can also replace metals or ceramics. In addition, if special technical purposes are required, engineering plastic parts can also be provided to meet the innovation requirements of every link in the industry.
Compared with widely used packaging plastics (such as PE, PP, PVC), engineering plastics have better mechanical strength or heat resistance, although their characteristics and prices are different from high-performance plastics.
Since engineering plastics cover many different properties, through material mixing and strengthening, product characteristics can be optimized and applied to different applications. Engineering plastics therefore also encompass a wider range of different properties.
Engineering plastics can be used in temperature environments of 100°C and 150°C for a long time. In general, engineering plastics are also called technical thermoplastics.
Engineering plastics can provide the following properties:
- Good machining characteristics
- Excellent machinability and dimensional stability
- Good chemical resistance
- Good wear resistance
The product shapes of engineering plastics include the following:
- Plastic rods
- Plastic sheet and sheet
- Plastic pipes
Application Fields of Engineering Plastics
At present, engineering plastics are mainly used in vehicles, mechanical equipment, electronic appliances, home appliances, building materials, medical equipment, military equipment, films, etc. Since 2005, engineering plastics have been widely used in the automotive, electronics and electrical industries.
The automobile industry is developing in the direction of focusing on environmental protection, safety, and health. Energy saving and environmental protection have become two major issues in the automotive industry. Lightweight, comfortable, and energy-saving are the latest trends in the development of automobiles. This trend has accelerated the plasticization of automobiles. process.
With its light weight, large design space, low manufacturing cost, excellent performance, and wide range of functions, engineering plastics have finally made more breakthroughs in automobiles in terms of lightweight, safety, and manufacturing costs, thus becoming the best choice in the automotive industry in the 21st century.
At the same time, the processing level of domestic auto parts is rapidly improving, and new processing equipment and processing technology are widely adopted, so that the application level and consumption of engineering plastics can be continuously improved.
Modification Trends of Engineering Plastics
The trend of modification of engineering plastics lies in:
General plastic engineering
Thermoplastic general-purpose plastics have large output and low cost. In order to improve mechanical properties and heat resistance, technologies such as reinforcement, filling and alloying can be used to achieve high performance, and can replace engineering plastics in certain occasions while reducing costs. In particular, PP composite materials and alloys have become the most widely used plastic varieties in the automotive field due to their high-cost performance.
High performance of general engineering plastics
General-purpose engineering plastics have been greatly improved in mechanical properties, heat resistance, and durability through copolymerization, blending alloying, and composite materials, and can replace special engineering plastics in some occasions. In addition, through modification, endowing engineering plastics with magnetic, electrical, and antibacterial functions is an important direction for high performance in the future, especially with the maturity of high-performance carbon fiber, carbon nanotube, and graphene preparation processes, the high It is more promising to be more flexible and multi-functional.
Low cost of special engineering plastics
Due to the high market price, the application of special engineering plastics is often limited to military products, and only after the cost is reduced can the scale promotion of civilian products be realized, thereby expanding the scope and field of application. There are several ways to reduce costs. One is blending, alloying, filling, and reinforcement with general-purpose plastics and general-purpose engineering plastics; the other is low-cost paths from monomer sources; and the third is mass production.
Green raw materials, processes and products
With the increasing awareness of environmental protection in the whole society, engineering plastics from renewable resources and green technology are the safe products that meet the expectations of the public, and the demand for degradable and renewable products is becoming more and more urgent. Future engineering plastics can not only be recycled, but also be green in raw materials and processes.
In Conclusion
Experts believe that the development trend of engineering plastics in the next five years will be high performance and low cost. Some high-performance engineering plastics with high temperature resistance, wear resistance, electrical conductivity, and electromagnetic shielding functions will gain rapid development.
In addition, in the design and manufacture of engineering plastic molecules, special attention will be paid to the concepts of environmental protection and reuse. Engineering plastics are mainly used in the fields of automobile, electrical and electronic, machinery, transportation, construction, chemical industry, national defense and military industry. According to statistics, the global demand for engineering plastics has reached 20 million tons in 2015, and will reach 29.1 million tons in 2020. As the most important automotive lightweight material, engineering plastics are used in the automotive industry rapidly, and it can reduce the quality of parts by about 40%.
