There are changes in the use of plastics for home appliances. What do you know?

According to the classification of plastics, plastics can be divided into general plastics, engineering plastics and special plastics. Among them, general-purpose plastics are the most widely used and widely used plastics. There are five main types of general-purpose plastics, namely polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS). Among them, PS and ABS are the most used in the field of home appliances.

According to Qin Shuyang, director of materials technology at Midea Group Purchasing Center, Midea Group's total annual plastic consumption is about 350,000 tons, of which general-purpose plastics (ABS, PP, PS) account for 85% to 90%.

Haier New Materials Research and Development Co., Ltd. said that Haier Group needs about 400,000 tons of plastics per year, including about 350,000 tons of general-purpose plastics. “In recent years, with the stricter control of raw material costs by household electrical appliance enterprises, the application ratio of PP and PE in the household appliance industry has gradually expanded. This is because these two raw materials can be modified to achieve better results, and The cost is lower." Xue Jinlei of Shanghai Business Information Service Co., Ltd. said.

Total is a large petrochemical company. General Plastics is part of the refining and chemical business segment, which produces PE, PP and PS. Among them, PS capacity is the largest. In China, Total has two production bases in Foshan, Guangdong and Ningbo, Zhejiang, with a total production capacity of 400,000 tons. HIPS and GPPS can be used in the manufacture of refrigerators, air conditioners, color TVs, office appliances and other products.

Engineering plastics help home appliances upgrade

Engineering plastics are widely used in various industries due to their advantages of high rigidity, small creep, high mechanical strength, good heat resistance and good insulation. Among them, the home appliance industry is an important application field of engineering plastics, and engineering plastics can be used as both appearance parts and structural parts instead of metal.

Engineering plastics can be divided into general engineering plastics and special engineering plastics. General engineering plastics applications are widely used in the field of home appliances, mainly polycarbonate (PC), polyamide (nylon, PA), polyoxymethylene (POM), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), polyterephthalic acid. Butyl ester (PBT), styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer (AS), polymethacrylate (acrylic, PMMA), and the like.

In fact, because the performance requirements of the appliance for the appearance parts are not so high, the engineering plastics are used less in the appearance of the appliance, and are mainly used to produce some structural parts. In general, the amount of engineering plastics used in home appliances is quite different from that of general-purpose plastics. Qin Shuyang said: "The annual amount of engineering plastics in the United States accounts for 10% of the total plastics consumption. The five major engineering plastics are involved, and others such as PPS, ASA and engineering alloy materials are also used."

An industry insider told Electric Appliance: "Engineering plastics are basically supplied by foreign companies, for example, DuPont supplies PA66, POM, PBT, PET and PPA; BASF supplies PA6, PA66, POM, PPS and PBT; Covestro supplies PC DSM supplies PA6 and PA46; Polyplastics supplies PPS and LCP; Saudi Basic Industries supplies PC, PPO and PEI; Celanese supplies POM, PBT, PET and PPS; Langsheng Chemical supplies PA6, PA66 and PBT; Toray supplies PPS; LG Chemical supplies PBT, PC, PA6, PA66, POM.” For the development of China's engineering plastics, he added: “At present, domestic companies can produce PET, PBT, POM and some PA, such as PA6 and PA66, but domestic products with higher performance such as PA12, PA1010, PA46 and PPS are not yet available for production."

When it comes to the differences between domestic and foreign material suppliers, the technology and services of foreign suppliers are better, the material performance is relatively stable, but the cost is higher and the delivery time is longer. Another advantage of foreign suppliers is that the special certification of materials is more complete, and the materials are actively certified according to the needs of different products, such as NSF certification for water treatment equipment applications, regional certification related to food hygiene, such as FDA, EU, LFGB and so on. Domestic plastic suppliers are more secure in terms of cost and delivery time, and product quality, stability and service are constantly improving. When choosing a plastics supplier, Midea considers the five aspects of technology, cost, service, quality and delivery.

PC is a widely used engineering plastic in the home appliance industry. It is worth mentioning that after years of accumulation, Chinese companies have the ability to mass produce PCs. According to the "Electrical Appliances" reporter, in mid-April 2015, the annual output of 100,000 tons of PC projects in Zhejiang Iron and Gale was completed. In late June, the first batch of PCs from Zhejiang Iron and Gale entered the market. The project has rewritten the history of self-developed PC devices with no more than 10,000 tons in China. At the same time, Wanhua Chemical also announced that it can produce PCs. The advancement of Chinese companies in the PC field has intensified the global competition for this product. On September 1, 2015, Bayer split the material technology business and renamed it, and the PC is the main product of Covestro. On October 8, SABIC announced the dissolution of its Saudi Basic Innovative Plastics business, which produces PCs.

In this regard, an industry insider commented that although domestic companies can produce PCs, the stability still has a gap with foreign companies.

Orderly advancement of plastic metal

The competition in the household appliance industry is becoming increasingly fierce. The development trend of engineering plastics is to replace steel with plastic, to replace copper with plastic, to increase functionality and to improve appearance. “Although the cost of steel, copper, aluminum and other metals is relatively low in recent years, plastics can be injection molded at one time because of the simple processing technology. It can reduce many processing and post-processing processes, and plastic molding is still an important development trend. "An industry insider said.

Midea has been trying to replace metal with plastic. For example, the relevant person in charge said: “The copper joints of many pipes of water heaters can now be replaced by high temperature resistant PA. In addition, some wear-resistant, heat-resistant and food-contact parts such as coffee machines and juice machines are also used. It has been solved by applying special engineering materials."

The special engineering plastics produced by Solvay can be made into internal screw and gear of coffee machine, juice machine, etc. It can compete with metal regardless of rigidity and strength, and has lighter weight, corrosion resistance and higher juice yield. metal. A person in charge of Solvay told reporters. “The application of plastic-based metal is more applied to the structural parts of household appliances. Considering the objective gap between plastic and steel in terms of rigidity and strength, the promotion process of plastic-made steel is closely related to the development level of plastic technology.”