Not Familiar with Plastic Modification? It Is Enough To Read This Article.

What is plastic modification?

Before introducing plastic modification, let's first understand plastic. Plastic is a polymer compound made from monomers and polymerized through addition or condensation reactions. It is composed of synthetic resins, fillers, plasticizers, stabilizers, lubricants, pigments, and other additives.

The main component of plastic is resin, so its basic properties are mainly determined by the nature of the resin, but additives also play a certain role. Resin accounts for approximately 40% to 100% of the total weight of plastic, and is a polymer compound that is not mixed with various additives.

Plastic modification refers to the process of improving or improving the original properties of resins through physical, chemical, mechanical, and other means. Modified plastics are collectively referred to as "modified plastics".

In actual plastic production, a certain proportion of stabilizers are almost always added to prevent the degradation of raw materials during storage, transportation, and processing. So, unmodified plastics are basically non-existent.

All plastics can be modified to improve their quality, such as density, hardness, precision, processability, chemical properties, corrosion resistance, aging resistance, wear resistance, flame retardancy, barrier properties, and cost-effectiveness.

Plastic modification is the most effective method to reduce costs and improve performance. Especially widely used in the recycled plastic industry.

 

Why do we need plastic modification?

As for why plastic modification is necessary?

1.The concept of resource regeneration is deeply rooted in people's hearts.

The world's resources are always a hot topic for humanity, and the concept of resource regeneration has deeply rooted in people's hearts. Plastics are made from petroleum refining products, while petroleum resources are limited. Therefore, recycling and utilizing recycled plastics can save petroleum resources and respond to the country's advocacy for resource conservation.

Recycled plastics often lose their original plastic properties. To produce new plastics using recycled materials, the process of plastic modification is inevitable.

According to different needs, process certain aspects of attributes to create corresponding products, so as not to cause resource loss. People can truly achieve environmental protection and energy conservation through the recycling and utilization of resources.

2. In order to expand the applicability of plastics.

Firstly, let's talk about the advantages and disadvantages of plastic.

Advantages: Most plastics are lightweight; Good chemical stability and less prone to rusting; Has a certain degree of toughness, i.e. good impact resistance; Good insulation and low thermal conductivity; Easy to process, low processing cost.

Disadvantages: Poor heat resistance and flammability; Easy to stress deformation, poor dimensional stability; Low strength; Low temperature brittleness; Poor solvent resistance, etc.

In practical applications, these plastics require specified properties such as strength, flame retardancy, impact resistance, and processability to be applied in the market.

For example, as a universal plastic, pure PP material cannot meet the requirements for low-temperature properties, rigidity, and toughness in the field of automotive exterior decoration. Only after performance enhancement, rigidity, and toughness modification of PP material can it meet the usage needs.

In daily applications, it is often necessary for plastics to possess various characteristics, such as toughness and resistance to low-temperature brittleness; It not only requires insulation, but also stability.

The purpose of plastic modification is to broaden the usage environment of raw materials, significantly improve some of the properties of raw materials, and thereby expand the applicability of plastics. Therefore, the significance of plastic modification is self-evident.

3. It is difficult to synthesize new polymer materials, which is neither economical nor practical.

Since the birth of the first plastic product, the plastic industry has a history of 120 years and has successfully researched and synthesized thousands of polymer materials. However, there are only over a hundred types of plastics with industrial value, and more than 90% of commonly used plastics are concentrated in the five general resins of PE, PP, PVC, PS, and ABS.

Developing new polymer materials not only requires huge investment, but also has unclear application prospects, which are neither economical nor practical. Therefore, making good use of existing plastics and expanding their performance through modification technology is the most cost-effective solution.

 

How to do plastic modification?

There are also various methods for modifying plastics, generally divided into physical and chemical methods. Physical methods mainly improve their properties by adding substances; Chemical methods mainly modify the morphology and structure through chemical reactions.

1. Add modifications. A modification method in which small inorganic or organic molecules are added to a polymer (resin) to achieve a desired performance through physical or chemical reactions.

This method is the earliest and most commonly used modification method, with obvious modification effects, simple process, and low cost, making it widely used. The direction of plastic modification is determined by its needs.

The commonly used additives for this method include inorganic additives (fillers, reinforcements, flame retardants, colorants, and nucleating agents, etc.), organic additives (plasticizers, stabilizers, antioxidants, organic flame retardants, degradation additives, etc.).

2. Blending modification. The main method is to mix one or more other resins (including plastic and rubber) into a resin to achieve a change in the original resin properties.

The difference between it and additive modification is that high molecular weight is added to the resin. Due to the high molecular weight in the composite system modified by blending, its compatibility is better than that of the system modified by adding small molecules. The modification also has little impact on the other properties of the original resin.

Our common polymer alloy is the modified product of this method. Blending modification is the most effective way to develop new polymer materials and is also the main way to achieve high-performance and refinement of existing plastic varieties.

3. Chemical modification. Mainly aimed at modifying the resin form and structure of plastics themselves, there are many ways to modify plastics through chemical reactions, such as using peroxides in the textile industry to degrade resins to improve flowability/fiber forming properties. Usually, methods such as changing the crystalline state, crosslinking, copolymerization, and grafting of plastics are not introduced here.

 

The significance of plastic modification

Compared with other materials, modified plastics have lower costs due to their high production efficiency and quick response, while also meeting usage requirements in terms of performance. Under the same conditions, of course, choosing modified plastics with higher cost-effectiveness also saves costs and increases economic benefits for enterprises.

Modified plastics not only have the advantages of traditional plastics, such as low density and corrosion resistance, but also improve their physical and mechanical properties through modification technology, such as high strength, high toughness, high impact resistance, wear resistance and seismic resistance. Their comprehensive performance is relatively excellent, providing strong support for their widespread application in downstream fields.

 

Application Fields of Modified Plastics

Modified plastics have been widely used in downstream fields due to their ultra-high cost-effectiveness. Commonly found in the fields of household appliances, automobiles, battery cases, electronic products, sports, etc.

Application of Modified Plastics in the Field of Home Appliances

Modified plastics are widely used in the home appliance industry, and home appliance products are prone to frequent contact and wear during use; Long term exposure to water, oil, and salt can lead to corrosion; Long term exposure to light can cause a series of issues such as discoloration and loss of gloss, which require materials to have strong visual expression, good scratch resistance, easy processing, and high cost-effectiveness.

Common household appliances include electric pressure cookers, induction cookers, noodle machines, Mantou machines, soybean milk machines, cooking machines, juicers, hair dryers, razors, etc., all of which use modified plastics.

Common ones include modified PBT, modified PET, modified PA, modified PPO, as well as modified PP, ABS, PC/ABS, etc. used for exterior shells.

Application of Modified Plastics in the Automotive Industry

The applications of modified plastics in automobiles include: pedals, sunshades, shelves, fans, wipers, air conditioning shells, bumpers, safety belt clips, and other automotive interiors and exteriors, automotive engine peripherals, air conditioning systems, and lighting systems.

These are all the application areas of modified plastics, indicating that they are widely used in the automotive field. By increasing the amount of modified plastics used in cars, the weight of cars can be reduced, costs can be controlled, and energy-saving effects can be achieved.

Application of Modified Plastics in the Field of Sports

Sports equipment and supplies need to adapt to different indoor and outdoor environments, and also provide athletes with comprehensive protection in terms of strength, toughness, stress, and wear resistance according to different sports events.

Therefore, sports equipment materials generally need to have properties such as high temperature resistance, low temperature resistance, and impact resistance. Commonly used materials include modified PA, modified PP, modified PC, etc.

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