First, the overall situation of the industry
Driven by the 12th Five-Year Plan, China's home appliance industry has achieved a transformation and upgrading. It has transformed from a smart home appliance manufacturing nation to a smart home appliance manufacturing powerhouse. Among them, new materials, new technologies, and new energy applications are of vital importance. The appearance smoothness and stiffness requirements, so in the application of mostly ABS (styrene-butadiene-acrylonitrile polymer) and HIPS (impact polystyrene) materials based. In many fire safety requirements Applications, such as TV housings, washing machine motor housings, etc., flame retardant ABS, HIPS are widely used to meet the performance requirements of home appliance parts for flame retardant and fire prevention. However, these two materials have two shortcomings: First, the price On the other hand, due to the variety of raw materials used in the synthesis of ABS and HIPS, as well as the more complex synthesis methods and processes, the resin raw material prices are relatively high; second, the yellowing resistance and anti-aging properties are general, and the ABS and HIPS resins are limited by the material structure. In the long-term use, the material will undergo yellowing and aging, affecting the use of materials, especially in light-colored household appliances. With the increasingly fierce competition in the home appliance industry, home appliances Business performance requirements and cost requirements for the material are also increasing. PP material with low price, excellent resistance to yellowing and aging properties, good processing behavior, etc. gradually manufacturer favored.
Second, flame retardant PP market distribution
From the regional distribution, China's current flame-retardant PP production enterprises are mainly concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta region and the Pearl River Delta region, the data show that these two regions account for about 85% of the national total production of flame-retardant PP.
Although domestic fire-retardant PP production technology still has a certain degree of scale in comparison with foreign countries, compared with foreign production companies, domestic companies are still at a relatively backward stage in terms of product stability and product added value. However, domestic The rapid development of modified plastics industry, especially for some technology-oriented enterprises, has not only ranked the development of flame-retardant technology at the forefront of the industry in China, but also has gradually approached or even surpassed similar foreign companies in the development of flame-retardant PP technology and market size.
Third, the performance requirements of flame retardant PP used in home appliances
Flame-retardant PP is mainly used in black household appliances, because white goods require high aesthetics, and flame-retardant PP is still not ideal in this regard. Because flame retardant PP has the advantages of easy processing and low price, it is widely used. Some of the requirements for material properties are not high, especially for components with general requirements for heat resistance, such as terminal blocks in computer cases, wall switches, etc. Flame-retardant PP materials can reduce production costs while better meeting product requirements. Because of this, flame-retardant PP has a wide range of applications in the field of motors, skeleton coils, etc. The following describes the performance requirements of several types of flame-retardant PP materials used in home appliances.
1. Washing machine motor housing
The motor housing in the washing machine mainly protects the motor of the washing machine. During the process of high-speed dehydration of the washing machine, some parts may generate sparks due to vibration and friction. Therefore, for the safer operation of the motor, many manufacturers The shell material proposed flame-retardant requirements. To this end, some companies have developed flame-retardant PP products that can meet the requirements of home appliance companies. Take Jin's products as an example, its test data is shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Gold Flame Retardant PP Shell Performance Test Data
2. Home appliance socket
Home appliance socket switch belongs to the category of small household appliances. The socket of the household appliance socket and the terminal for connection function are made of fire-retardant material. According to the current standard of residential building, the demand for the socket for residential is about 800 million.
In order to increase the price competitiveness of domestic socket enterprises, they gradually began to use fire-retardant PP instead of flame-retardant ABS to make household socket housings. The test indexes of flame-retardant PP products applied to socket parts are shown in Table 2.
Table 2 Test data of gold household socket materials
As can be seen from Table 3, on the premise of satisfying the performance requirements of the product, compared with the flame-retardant ABS material, the flame-retardant PP material is reduced by 20% in weight and 37% in cost. It is based on this significant advantage that currently Lightweight, cost-effective flame-retardant PP products have replaced most of the traditional flame-retardant ABS products.
Table 3 Comparison of the cost of flame retardant ABS and flame retardant PP
Air conditioning shell
Household air-conditioner indoor unit casing, the traditional material selection is generally HIPS or ABS, and in recent years there has been gradual replacement of aging PP material alternatives. As consumers continue to enhance the safety requirements of indoor appliances, many air-conditioning companies began The use of flame-retardant PP as the material of the indoor unit shell. In addition to flame-retardant PP can meet the basic performance and flame-retardant performance requirements of the air-conditioning shell, compared to flame-retardant ABS and other materials, its anti-aging properties also have a clear advantage.
Fourth, the direction of modification of flame retardant PP
1. Low-halogen, low-smoke and environment-friendly flame-retardant PP
Halogen-based flame-retardant PP materials account for about 70-80% of the flame-retardant material market. Due to its low price and stable flame-retardant effect, it is currently difficult to find alternatives in most home appliance applications. Therefore, for a long time in the future, Halogen-containing flame-retardant PP will still be the main flame-retardant material. At the same time, with the successful development of more and more new high-efficiency halogen-based flame retardants, it will also provide for the development of low-halogen, low-smoke and environment-friendly flame-retardant PP. Technical support. In the future, low-halogen, low-smoke and environmentally-friendly flame-retardant PP will become a key research and development direction for material manufacturers.
2. Halogen-free flame retardant PP
With the introduction of the ROHS Regulations by the European Union, many companies in the world have banned or restricted the use of certain substances contained in materials. In view of this situation, halogen-free flame-retardant PP has become a research hotspot in the industry, but there is no halogen resistance. The price of fuel is still high, and the problem of high development costs remains to be solved.
3. Anti-aging, high gloss
Because PP contains unstable structural groups, it is prone to aging and degradation due to light, heat, and oxygen, resulting in discoloration and decreased strength, which limits its application in home appliances, especially high-end outdoor home appliances. In the future, The flame-retardant PP is aging-resistant and modified, prolonging the service life of the flame-retardant PP material in harsh environments for a long time. It is a problem that the flame-retardant PP needs to be solved in the field of high-end home appliances.
Fig. 1 Comparison of the retention of flexural strength after flame retardant PP and flame retardant ABS
In addition, compared with flame-retardant ABS, HIPS high-gloss surface effects, flame-retardant PP applications are still inferior to home appliances. Therefore, improving the surface gloss and appearance of flame-retardant PP will contribute to the flame-retardant PP products. Application area expansion.
V. Development trend of home appliance flame retardant materials
In order to avoid fire, many countries may have potential fire-fighting components for electronic parts in household appliances. They all have high flame-retardant requirements. In order to provide users with a safer environment for electricity use, home appliance manufacturers have increased Many parts of the fire rating. In PP plastic parts, some of the original flame retardant performance is low, or no clear flame retardant performance requirements of PP products, has gradually increased the material fire retardant requirements.
It is foreseeable that with the development of flame-retardant materials, more new flame-retardant products will continue to be developed. As a supplier of modified plastics, Kim also closely follows the development trend of the home appliance industry, focusing on the development of new models suitable for home appliances. Sex materials, continue to provide new material solutions for home appliances.