The automotive industry will usher in the "plastic era"

With the continuous development of the automobile industry, people are increasingly demanding the lighter weight and environmental protection of automobiles. As a new type of parts and materials, plastics have an increasingly broad application prospect in automobiles.

The application of plastics improves the lightweight and environmental protection of automobiles. The light weight of plastics makes it possible to reduce the weight of vehicles in order to achieve energy saving goals, while plastics give automotive manufacturers higher parts design and freedom of design. Today, plastic materials have greatly changed the interior and exterior design of automobiles. From ABS brake systems, front and rear bumpers, and door linings, many automobile interiors and body parts have adopted high-quality plastics as the main material.

The choice of plastic as an automotive material not only brings breakthroughs in automotive design but also contributes to sustainable development and environmental protection. Plastics can not only reduce the amount of emissions from automobiles, but also reduce the consumption of natural resources such as oil, which can help achieve sustainable environmental protection. Replacing traditional metal parts with plastic can greatly reduce the weight of the car and reduce the energy consumption of the car. 100 kilograms of plastic is functionally equivalent to 200-300 kilograms of metal parts. It follows from this that an average of 150,000 kilometers of cars can save 750 liters of fuel.

Polypropylene and polyolefin materials are the main raw materials for the interior and exterior of the car body. Polypropylene materials have been widely used in car bumpers and anti-collisions due to their characteristics such as low density, low cost, large output, high cost performance, good chemical stability, and easy processing and molding. Wiping strips, door columns, door guards and other automotive components.

Recently, some bumper manufacturers started using TPO materials instead of reaction injection molded PUR or PC/PBT materials. In addition, the use of foam PP as a core layer, TPO skin dashboard, and the use of TPO materials for the production of roof and airbag device skin gradually become the mainstream design trend, PVC / ABS pressure skin due to the existence of quality and environmental protection Limited, its application is gradually reduced.

When such polyolefin materials are used to produce a variety of interior and exterior trims, the parts manufacturer must ensure that the finished product meets certain scratch resistance standards. At present, some of the world's automotive manufacturers have begun to require the surface of the components to exhibit excellent scratch resistance even when subjected to 10N or 15N scratches.

The use of plastics in auto parts is expanding The application of plastics in automobiles is changing from interior trim parts to exterior trim parts and functional structural parts, from general plastics to engineering plastics, composite materials, or plastic alloys. The key development direction is to develop structural components and exterior parts. Plastic car interior trim pieces mainly include instrument panel, door inner panel, sub-instrument panel, glove box lid, seat, rear guard panel, etc. The instrument panel is one of the main automobile interior trim parts. The plastic car exterior trim parts include bumpers, fenders, wheel covers, and deflectors. At present, the car bumper is one of the largest plastic components.

At present, foreign automotive plastics account for about 15% of the weight of automobiles. It is expected that this number will increase to more than 20% in 10 years. China's automotive plastics currently account for 7%-8% of the weight of automobiles. Automotive plastics will be the major trend in the future development of automobiles, and the first to be plastic is the interior trim. At present, the automotive interior plastics in the world's major automobile-producing countries have basically been completed, and the key development direction in the future will be to expand the application of plastics on the exterior parts and structural parts of the car body, and finally it is expected to advance to the all-plastic car body.