The evolution of Autobots has been unstoppable, and a large pattern of lightweight automobiles is gradually taking shape. The demand for plastics in automobiles continues to expand, and plastics have gradually replaced metals as the main material for auto parts. In some developed countries, the amount of plastic used in automobiles has become an important indicator to measure the level of automobile design and manufacturing. Which plastics can be used in cars? Unima Plastics New Material Network takes stock of the "big" uses of "small" plastics for you.

1. First acquaintance with plastics for automobiles

Automotive plastics refers to the application of plastics in automobiles, and refers to the application of engineering plastics. Engineering plastics can be used as engineering materials and as an alternative to metal to manufacture machine parts. It has excellent comprehensive properties, high rigidity, small creep, high mechanical strength, good heat resistance, good electrical insulation, and can be used for a long time in harsh chemical and physical environments. It is the preferred material to replace metal materials.

2. Two sects and five categories

First of all, engineering plastics are divided into general engineering plastics and special cnc milling peek plastics. Secondly, the main varieties of general engineering plastics include five categories: polyamide, polycarbonate, polyoxymethylene, modified polyphenylene ether and thermoplastic polyester. Special engineering plastics mainly refer to engineering plastics with heat resistance above 150 ℃, the main varieties are polyimide, polyphenylene sulfide, polysulfone, aromatic polyamide, polyarylate, polyphenylester, polyaryl ether ketone, liquid crystal polymer and fluororesin, etc.

3. Application of general engineering plastics

Polyamide, commonly known as nylon, is the most important automotive plastic parts, and the use of nylon in the automotive sector exceeds one-third of the total market consumption. It has good comprehensive properties, its strength is higher than that of metal, and at the same time, it has good mechanical properties, heat resistance, chemical resistance, and low friction coefficient. It is the best choice for automotive materials. Parts using nylon materials in automobiles include wheel covers, deflectors, automotive interior parts, line cards, fans and so on. BMW's BMW328i car uses 21.8kg of nylon per car.

Good impact resistance and thermal distortion resistance make polycarbonate a favored material in the automotive industry. For example, automotive heating panels, lighting systems, and defrosters all make clever use of this. Among them, Toyota's windows use polycarbonate to reduce the weight of the car. It is understood that the proportion of polycarbonate used in electrical and electronic and automobile manufacturing is as high as 50%. Since industrialization, polycarbonate has been favored and has shown an expanding momentum in various fields.

Polyoxymethylene, known as "Duogang" and "Super Steel" in foreign countries, is another engineering plastic with excellent comprehensive properties after polyamide. Its high mechanical properties, high strength, wear resistance, creep resistance, Machinability provides a good choice for automotive materials. Since the advent of POM (polyoxymethylene abbreviation), it has been widely used in electrical and electronic, machinery, daily light industry, automobiles, building materials and other fields. Especially in the automotive field, POM is mostly used to manufacture wear-resistant parts such as bushings, gears, and sliders. Such as: BMW, Audi, Ford and other auto parts use this material.

In addition to good mechanical properties, electrical properties, heat resistance and flame retardancy, the modified polyphenylene ether also has solvent resistance and easy cnc turning peek. A large number of internal parts used in automobiles, such as instrument panels, seat backs, and some external parts such as wheel covers and mirror frames are made of modified polyphenylene ether. In addition, MPPO (abbreviation for modified polyphenylene ether) also has a large number of applications in the chemical industry, electrical and electronic industries, etc.

As a rising star of the five general engineering plastics, thermoplastic polyester has the fastest development speed. At present, it is a kind of promising engineering plastics. Among them, the most widely used thermoplastic polyesters are mainly PBT and PET. As engineering plastics, PET is widely used in the automotive field, such as automotive windshields, rearview mirrors, hinges, automotive headlight frames, switchboard covers and so on. PBT, on the other hand, has excellent chemical resistance and automobile fluid resistance, and has important applications in the interior and exterior of automobiles, as well as electrical and mechanical systems, such as instrument parts, handles, sensors, ignition systems, lamp shades, heating device and so on.

4. Application of special engineering plastics

Compared with general engineering plastics, special engineering plastics are more advantageous, and they can be exposed to very harsh environments for a long time and remain very stable. It has the characteristics of light weight, high temperature resistance, high strength and high flame retardant. For example, polyimide, polyetheretherketone, polyphenylene sulfide and other materials have high heat distortion temperature. These materials are mainly used in high-tech fields such as aerospace, and of course in the automotive field. Because of its high price, it has not been popularized in the automotive field. At present, the application is mainly limited to high-end automobiles. For example, the foamed plastic Ultratoct prepared by the polyether stone wind UltrasonE developed by Germany BASF has begun to be used in the rear seat back of BMW's M3CSL sports car.

The application of special engineering plastics will gradually become popular with the deepening of its development, and its own market potential and market value will be immeasurable. We firmly believe that special engineering plastics in the future must not be limited to high-tech fields such as aerospace.

Five, unima plastic new material network editor said

As plastics are more and more widely used in the automotive industry, the amount of plastics used in automobiles is bound to continue to increase. In the automotive field, it is no longer a dream to replace all metal materials with plastics. In the next ten years, it must be a decade of explosive growth of automotive plastics.