In recent years, driven by the trend of "replacing steel with plastic", China's engineering plastics industry has developed rapidly, with continuous improvement in productivity, variety and consumption, and are widely used in structural parts of home appliances.
Application of engineering plastics in home appliance structural parts
Engineering plastics are a class of high-performance polymer materials that can be used as structural materials, withstand mechanical stress in a wide temperature range, and be used in harsh chemical and physical environments. Compared with ordinary plastics, engineering plastics are superior in mechanical properties, durability, corrosion resistance, heat resistance, etc., and are easier to process. There are many kinds of engineering plastics, and the products that can be applied in the field of home appliances mainly include polycarbonate, polyamide, polyoxymethylene, polyphenylene sulfide, polybutylene terephthalate, styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, polymethacrylate wait.
Used for fan blades, transparent casings of juice extractors, transparent water tanks, etc. PC has the characteristics of good toughness, high transparency, good high and low temperature performance, and self-extinguishing properties. It is widely used in the production of transparent casings that require high heat resistance and flame retardancy, such as hair dryers. In addition, PC can also be used in fields such as switch buttons, transparent casings, water receiving boxes, small heat-resistant and flame-resistant home appliance casings, etc. PA series can be used in washing machine pulleys, vacuum cleaner turbines, coffee grinder motor housings, hair dryers, fans, portable electric oven handles, refrigerator handles, etc. POM has good comprehensive properties and can be used for home appliance gears, sliding parts, microwave oven door hook brackets, etc. PBT can be used for coil bobbins, switch brackets, etc. PPS can be used for turntable brackets, high heat-resistant precision structural parts, etc. PMMA can be used in plastic shells of household appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines.
The trend of "replacing steel with plastic"
Compared with metal, plastic has stronger plasticity and relatively simple processing technology, which can better meet the growing individual needs of the market. At present, not only some structural parts, but even some exterior parts that require a metallic texture can also be replaced by plastics, which not only have a metallic luster, but also meet the needs of lightweight and individualization.
According to industry insiders, taking a refrigerator as an example, if plastic is used, the sealing strip and the panel can be processed together to save costs. In terms of noise reduction in home appliances, engineering plastics are also more advantageous, because sound-absorbing and vibration-absorbing materials can be used.
For small appliances, a salesperson gave an example that the base of the induction cooker heating wire used to be mostly made of metal, but now it is mostly made of plastic. Although engineering plastics have been used in the field of home appliances, it is not easy to promote any material on a large scale.