According to statistics published by the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, the current consumption of plastics in home appliances accounts for 40% of the weight, and the average usage of household appliances in color TVs, air conditioners, etc. is 1.5-2.5 kg per unit. The fastest-growing material, product plasticization has become an important feature of the home appliance industry.
With the shift in consumer attitudes in the Chinese market, more and more middle-class people are willing to choose high-end products, and the cycle of home appliances is also being shortened. Home appliances are centered around comfort, health, environmental protection, noise reduction, human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence. In the same direction, home appliance plastics and its processing technology will also focus on high-quality aesthetics, health and environmental protection, plastics steel, easy processing, lightweight and intelligent manufacturing, etc. Then how is the innovation of plastic material application and processing technology innovation tight? With the ever-changing pace of the industry, what high-performance plastics and processes will be used in the appliance market in the future?
From simple functionalization to high quality appearance requirements
With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, home appliances are not only functional items, but also gradually have 'artistic characteristics'. The color of home appliances is no longer limited to black and white color tone, but also tends to rich color changes, evoking people Feelings of well-being in life; styling design tends to be more dynamic than curves, making people feel comfortable, relaxed and warm compared to hard straight lines. This requires the plastic parts of home appliances to have both functional and good appearance. characteristic.
The popular 'smart home' concept not only promotes the research and development of innovative home appliances, but also enhances the standards of its manufacturing materials. Take Casa Di as an example, as the high-end home appliance brand under the Haier Group's acclaim, Casa Di has been We hope to find a high-quality and innovative material for its high-end air-conditioner to fully reflect the artistic and brand differences of Casa Di. In the past, the Casa Di design team mainly relied on metal to meet the performance and aesthetic requirements, but the metal For example, aluminum materials usually require a combination of sandblasting, wire drawing and anodizing, and other complex surface treatments. From an innovation point of view, traditional materials such as metals have become increasingly difficult to break through the limit. At this time, Covestro Polymers (China) ) The Continuous Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Composite (CFRTP) developed by Co., Ltd. brings the perfect solution to Casa Di. This future-oriented composite material is made of continuous carbon fiber or glass fiber and polycarbonate, from the very beginning. , CFRTP can form a natural unidirectional texture, does not require complicated processing technology. CFRTP makes the air conditioner show a high-grade metal texture, stylish appearance In March 2018, Casa Di launched the Tianyi air conditioner applying the latest 'Division Air' technology. It designed two independent air supply systems. The whole panel was made by Covestro CFRTP, unique to carbon fiber. The high-end texture fully reflects the elegant artistic appearance and exquisite craftsmanship represented by the Casa Imperial brand.
It is understood that CFRTPs based on thermoplastics can be autoclaved using existing thermoforming equipment. They have the advantages of high production efficiency and short production cycle. They can be used in combination with a variety of coatings and decorative processes to design a unique surface. , logos and other landmark details, and it is easy to implement laser etching patterns directly in the mold. Generally, composite materials are considered too expensive and difficult to process, but CFRTP materials provided by Covestro are of subversive significance as a A modern, cost-effective and easy-to-mold thermoplastic composite that opens up new exciting design possibilities and user experiences.
As household appliance companies pay more and more attention to product design, CMF is not a new word in the home appliance industry. Household appliance companies increase product competitiveness. In addition to increasing technology research and development, they also need to increase CMF—Color, Material ( Innovative design of materials and finishes. Fashionable, innovative and colorful products are more easily accepted by the public. The use of environmentally friendly materials not only enhances the appearance of the product, but also increases the ease of cleaning, antibacterial and anti-bacterial protection. Fungus and other functions, through special treatment can make home appliances have better resistance to light aging and scratch resistance, and let the product show a stronger sense of texture and texture. CMF can optimize product design, but also promote brand marketing and promotion Product experience, helping home appliances stand out in fierce market competition.
Consumption Upgrading Drives Growth in Health and Environmental Protection
With the increasing consumer awareness of health consumption, cleanliness, and the proliferation of antibacterial household electrical appliances, home appliance manufacturers have also put forward higher requirements for the antibacterial and bactericidal properties of plastics. It is reported that more and more companies have used antibacterial plastics. Air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, drinking fountains, rice cookers and air fresheners to reduce microbial contamination and cross-infection of pathogens.
The core technology of antibacterial plastics development is to add antibacterial agents to plastics. Traditional home appliances have plastic appearance parts with brilliant colors and patterns. Most of them are painted with paint, which leads to a large amount of VOC (volatile organic compound) emissions. For the environment, the health hazards of first-line production employees and consumers are extremely serious. With the increasingly stringent national environmental protection policies and the continuous upgrading of consumer demand for product appearance, the demand for environmentally-friendly and aesthetic plastics for household electrical appliances is more urgent. The non-spray-free plastic with internal environmental protection and external cosmetic value has become a major highlight. The material is a one-time molded plastic that is injected through injection molding and can solve the flow marks encountered during the plastic molding process. Problems, while significantly improving the appearance of plastic products, with a one-time spray-free, beautiful, environmentally friendly and low-cost advantages, and it can bring creative effects can not be achieved by spraying, such as imitation metal, imitation glass, imitation marble, etc. Effect. At present, almost all domestic large-scale material modification companies are researching, producing and selling this spray-free plastic, and have successfully applied it to air-conditioning. Washing machines, small appliances and other products. At present, the first-line home appliance companies have begun to use metal color, pearl color, gradient color spray-free plastic instead of high cost, high pollution spray process.
On the other hand, household appliances 'furniture', that is, home appliances are gradually integrated with the decoration style of the house, which makes home appliances with furniture color design integration more favored by consumers, no spray plastic is also a good choice. Some domestic changes Sex material companies cooperate with industrial design companies to provide color pattern customization services for home appliance companies, and also provide metallic textures, flow lines effects, luminous effects and other spray-free plastics to help home appliances realize 'furniture'.
Using technology to crack 'high face value' and lightweight problems
How to help home appliances achieve “high value” and lightweight demand at the same time has been a major problem for this industry. Many injection molding solution providers have given positive responses, such as the introduction of MuCell based on IZM in Guangdong last year. Unique micro-foam technology - FoamPro process. On the one hand, the FoamPro process can be made lighter, with a 20% weight reduction compared to traditional injection molding processes, a significant 30% reduction in cycle time, a significant increase in production efficiency, and a 50% reduction in clamping force. Eliminating warpage, shrinking and other problems, can produce high-quality appearance products for home appliances and other industries, including high-gloss, matt, grain, fiber weaving and particle effects, without packing pressure, good heat insulation performance. On the other hand, FoamPro Micro Foam Process Innovation combines a number of 'black technologies': SmartClamp intelligent clamping system for two-platen injection molding machine, aviation-grade aluminum alloy mold technology, ATT mold temperature control technology, FLEXflow servo needle valve hot runner system, breaking through micro Foaming process bottlenecks.
Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing Help Transform and Upgrade Industries
The human cost has been rising. The younger generation of industrial workers has been increasingly difficult to manage. There are also 'employment shortages' that are common throughout the year, forcing companies to seek change. Factory automation is certainly a good thing for home appliance manufacturers. Solution. In addition, as the cost of automation equipment has gradually decreased and the downstream applications of robots have continued to expand, today, the transition to high-end, intelligent transformation has become the consensus of the entire appliance industry chain, Haier, Midea, Skyworth, Galanz, Gree. , Hisense and other home appliance companies are using a large number of automation equipment or robots, and they are looking for workshops such as unmanned automated production, device interconnection and visualization, etc., to build solutions for upgrading, to improve the efficiency of production and operation of home appliances companies and manufacturing quality.
Spray-free plastic helps home appliances achieve 'furnishing'
Now, in the face of downward pressure on profits, the requirements for molding equipment for plastic parts processing and production enterprises located in the upper reaches of the household appliance industry chain involve multiple aspects: It is necessary to save energy and reduce emissions, but also to automate, to save manpower and production time, and to reduce The production cost makes the products more competitive in the market. Dongguan Hongda Electrical Products Co., Ltd. is the production base of Miele, the top brand of domestic household appliances in China. It mainly produces household vacuum cleaners. Hongda currently uses 5 sets of vacuum cleaners. An injection molding machine supplied by a well-known injection molding machine brand to produce different parts for vacuum cleaners. According to the person in charge of the grand company, the reason why the injection molding machine series was chosen by the company is that it is not only very energy-efficient, but also helps to further automate itself. The hydraulic injection molding machines produced by injection molding machine manufacturers mentioned above are very suitable for conventional applications in mass production. This application does not require special technology, but also can effectively improve the quality and process. Follow-up processing saves time and manpower.
The transformation and upgrading of labor-intensive industries in the manufacture of plastic parts is imminent, but some injection molding companies have some deviations from the understanding of smart manufacturing. They believe that access to ERP systems, or monitoring of injection molding machines, and even adding a few robots, automatic belt lines, etc. Achieving smart manufacturing. In fact, only the delivery of people, machines, materials, products and data can fully lay the foundation for smart manufacturing.