In recent years, the regulation of environmental protection regulations has become more rigorous, and the transformation of automobiles into new energy sources has become inevitable. The demand for composite materials for automobiles will continue to increase. Under the background of lightweight development of automobiles, it is an irresistible trend to 'reform steel on behalf of plastics.' Recently, Mitsui Chemicals The company plans to produce glass fiber reinforced polypropylene from the Anesaki plant in Japan for automotive interiors. The polypropylene composite production facility has a design capacity of 3,500 tons per year and is scheduled for completion in September 2019.
In the production of automobiles, fiber reinforced resins will be increasingly used to replace metal materials. It is understood that composite materials made by melt-mixing polypropylene resin and long glass fiber, in addition to light weight, look beautiful, in hardness and A good balance has been achieved between impact resistance. The product has been used in unpainted rear door interiors.
Application of polypropylene in automotive interior
Plastics play an irreplaceable role in meeting the aesthetics, comfort, safety, corrosion resistance, light weight and design freedom of the car. As one of the five general-purpose plastics, polypropylene is toughened, filled, reinforced, blended. The modified method can obtain new materials with different properties. The modified polypropylene material has been widely used in automotive interiors.
For example, the dashboards currently used in automobiles can be divided into hard instrument panels and semi-rigid instrument panels. Different models and different designs can have a variety of materials. Mid- to high-end cars use semi-rigid instrument panels, 20% fiberglass reinforcement. Polypropylene can be used as a skeleton and duct material for semi-rigid instrument panels due to its good rigidity. In addition, glove boxes, door guards, sub-dashboards, pillar guards, seat guards, parcel guards, etc. Automotive parts can be made of modified polypropylene material.
Mitsui Chemicals expands the market for polyethylene materials for overseas vehicles
With the continuous development of synthetic technology, polypropylene (PP) resin is widely used in various fields such as automobiles, home appliances, pipes, packaging, medical equipment, etc., especially in the automotive industry. Rising, the market outlook is very promising.
At the end of May, Mitsui Chemicals Co., Ltd. said it will continue to explore the overseas automotive materials market, especially in Europe. The company will invest 5 billion yen (about 45.5 million US dollars) in the Netherlands to build a new plastic raw material polypropylene plant. It is used for the production of automobile bumpers. It is understood that the annual production capacity of polypropylene in the new plant will reach 30,000 tons and is expected to be officially produced in June 2020. The new polypropylene plant will be the first gathering of Mitsui Chemicals in Europe. A propylene compound production base to cope with the growing global demand from the automotive industry.
At the same time, Mitsui Chemicals will invest 18.4 million euros in the same region to set up a subsidiary engaged in the production and operation of advanced polypropylene composite materials. The products will be mainly sold to European automobile manufacturers. It is understood that Mitsui Chemicals' sales of polypropylene resin Ranked second in the world, in Japan, India and the United States and other seven countries already have factories, and there is no direct business in Europe, currently mainly commissioned production. And this production subsidiary will be its first production in Europe. activity.
With the deepening of lightweight vehicles, Europe's demand for high-performance resins with good heat resistance and impact resistance will increase significantly. Obviously this is a promising market and a key area for Mitsui Chemical's further development. Of course In other regions, Mitsui Chemicals will continue to increase its investment in development. For example, in Japan, China and the United States, Mitsui Chemical intends to expand its fiberglass reinforced polypropylene materials and is expected to complete its expansion plan by 2020. In the United States, Mitsui Chemicals also builds a thermoplastic elastomer plant in Ohio with an annual capacity of 60,000 tons/year, which is expected to go into production in October 2019.
Moreover, Mitsui Chemicals places great emphasis on the automotive materials market. Mitsui Chemicals has invested 30.1 billion yen in vehicle materials development and related mergers and acquisitions this year. With Mitsui Chemical entering the European market, it is expected that by 2025, 30 will be produced. The synergy of 100 million yen to get more economic benefits.
Conclusion
In the past ten years, the application of plastics in automobiles has been greatly developed. Among the many plastic varieties used in automobiles, the development and application of various types of modified polypropylene materials in automobiles have increasingly become the focus of the automotive industry and the plastics industry. Focus. Through various modified processing methods, modified polypropylene materials can be obtained to meet the different functional requirements of various automotive parts, and its excellent performance-price ratio enables various toughening, filling and reinforcing polypropylene materials in the automotive industry. It has been widely used. This has deepened the development trend of automobile lightweighting to a certain extent, and also accelerated the pace of the era of “making plastics for steel”, which has far-reaching impact on the entire automotive industry. It is also because of the trend of lightweight vehicles. Progressive, making modified plastics welcome new development opportunities.