In recent years, the automotive manufacturing industry has gradually adopted more modified plastics to replace traditional metal materials, in order to achieve lightweight and improve the fuel economy and environmental friendliness of the entire vehicle. The usage of modified plastics in automobiles is rapidly increasing, and there is a trend of "replacing steel with plastic", that is, using plastic materials to replace traditional steel materials. Among them, polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), and polybutylene terephthalate/ABS alloy (PC/ABS) are three types of modified engineering plastics widely used in automotive manufacturing, with diverse applications and advantages.
1、 Polypropylene (PP)
PP is a modified plastic with semi crystalline, high strength, high rigidity, chemical resistance, and excellent electrical and processing properties.
PP is considered the lightest plastic with a density of only 0.89-0.91 g/cm3, and has good comprehensive performance and price advantages, making it an ideal lightweight material for automobiles. PP is suitable for various modification methods such as copolymerization, cross-linking, filling, and reinforcement. It has a wide variety of varieties and is the most widely used, frequently used, and rapidly developing variety of automotive plastics. Taking intermediate sedans as an example, the frequency of selecting PP materials is as high as 30%, accounting for over 50% of the plastic used in the entire vehicle.
More than 60 types of automotive components are manufactured using modified PP, including bumpers, instrument panels, door inner panels, air conditioning components, etc., which account for more than 60% of the total amount of automotive PP.
2、 Polyamide (PA)
PA is a high-performance engineering plastic with excellent mechanical properties, good solvent resistance, chemical and oil resistance, good weather resistance, certain flame retardancy, and easy processing and molding.
Widely used in fields such as automobiles, electrical appliances, and special equipment. Dozens of PAs can be prepared based on the different carbon atom numbers of diamines, dicarboxylic acids, or amino acids in the structure, such as PA6, PA66, PA11, PA12, etc. Among them, PA6 and PA66 are the main varieties of automotive PAs, with over half of the world's PA6 and PA66 used in the automotive industry.
3、 Polybutylene terephthalate/ABS alloy (PC/ABS)
PC/ABS is a modified plastic with excellent impact strength, high heat resistance, excellent processing performance, weather resistance, chemical resistance, and other properties.
It can be processed through processes such as injection molding, extrusion, and rolling, and is widely used in the manufacturing of automotive interior parts, body exterior parts, electrical and electronic components, etc
These modified engineering plastics can not only reduce the weight of cars and improve fuel economy, but also meet the requirements of cars for safety, comfort, and aesthetics. With the continuous progress of technology, the demand for modified engineering plastics in the automotive manufacturing industry will further increase, and more new types of automotive plastic materials will emerge.