High performance and Low Cost Engineering Plastics Modification

Because of the limitation of single resin properties and the increasing demand for low cost, high performance and diversified properties of materials, various kinds of modified engineering plastics have emerged. Engineering plastics can be modified by physical, chemical or physical and chemical methods, including blending (alloying), copolymerization (grafting) and filling reinforcement. The modification can obviously improve the properties of engineering plastics and make one kind of polymer matrix produce many kinds of products with different uses. It is easy to realize the multi-purpose of one machine and realize the serialization and specialization of the products because of its large flexibility of production and operation.

Thermoplastic has the advantage of large output and low cost. In order to improve its mechanical properties and heat resistance, high performance plastics can be realized by strengthening, filling and alloying, which can replace engineering plastics in a certain situation and reduce the cost at the same time. Especially, PP composites and alloys have become the most widely used plastics in automobile field because of their high cost performance.

The mechanical properties, heat resistance and durability of general engineering plastics have been greatly improved by copolymerization, blending alloying and composite materials conversion. It can be used as a substitute for special engineering plastics in some situations. In addition, by modifying, endowing engineering plastics with magnetic, electrical, antimicrobial and other functions is an important direction for high performance in the future, especially with the maturation of high performance carbon fiber, carbon nanotubes, graphene preparation technology, and the high performance and multifuctional of engineering plastics is more promising.

Because of the high market price, the application of special engineering plastics is often limited to military products, only when the cost is reduced, the scale promotion of civil products can be realized, thus expanding the scope and field of application. Ways to reduce its price: one is blending, alloying, filling and strengthening with general plastics and general engineering plastics; the other is using low cost monomer source; the third is mass production.

With the increasing awareness of environmental protection in the whole society, engineering plastics prepared by green process are the safety products that meet the expectations of the public. The demand for renewable products is more and more urgent. The future engineering plastics not only can be recycled, but also eco-friendly of raw materials and technology.

Experts believe that the future trend of engineering plastics development will be high-performance and low-cost. Some high-performance engineering plastics with high temperature resistance, wear resistance, conductive, electromagnetic mask function will be developed rapidly. In addition, in the design and manufacture of engineering plastics, special attention will be paid to environmental protection, reuse and other concepts.

Engineering plastics are mainly used in automotive, electronic electricity, mechanical, transportation, construction, chemical, national defense and other fields. According to statistics, global demand for engineering plastics reached 20 million tons in 2015 and is expected to reach 29.1 million tons by 2020.