Process additives, the full name: processing technology additives. Or Processing Aid. It is an emerging technology that has developed rapidly in the world in recent years. In fact, the development and use of process auxiliaries is almost in sync with the development of plastic materials, and has been in existence for decades. For example, traditional cheap lubricants such as stearates (zinc, calcium, magnesium, cadmium) have been commonly used in plastics processing since the 40s and 50s. Even at present, stearates are widely used in plastic processing. Therefore, as a practitioner of the plastics processing industry, it is necessary to first establish a concept that the application of process auxiliaries has long existed in the traditional plastics processing industry.
However, according to contact with a large number of plastic industry practitioners, many people have been engaged in plastic processing for decades, but they do not know that almost every plastic raw material contains processing aids! Therefore, when introducing advanced process auxiliaries to these high-end plastics industry practitioners, most people will ask: “Why should we use process auxiliaries?” or even suspect the necessity of using process auxiliaries.
The use of process auxiliaries is absolutely necessary. One of the simplest metaphors is as follows: People must understand that if a car can be started, it is necessary to add gasoline (or other fuel). But don't forget that this car must also be added with various types of lubricants, such as engine oil, gearbox lubricants, and bearing lubricants. Otherwise, the car will not open quickly, the parts will wear out quickly, and there will be great vibration and noise. Just like this simple metaphor, all kinds of process additives are the “lubricants” of plastic melts.
(1) What is the basic classification of additives in the plastics industry?
Plastics industry additives are broadly divided into:
(1) Functional additives. Functional auxiliaries are characterized by their special properties that give rise to some of the properties of plastics. For example: antioxidants, ultraviolet light absorbers, and the like.
(2) Process additives. The characteristics of process auxiliaries are that they do not directly improve the properties of the plastic, but rather improve the processability of the plastic enamel to obtain a good quality final product. For example: internal lubricants, external lubricants, etc.
(b) What is the Internal Lubricant?
The internal lubricant is a lubricant between the carbon chains of the plastic molecules. Used to increase the fluidity of the plastic melt to improve processability.
(3) What is an External Lubricant?
The external lubricant is a lubricant that reduces the viscous resistance of the plastic melt to the steel surface of the processing equipment. The plastic melt has good processing characteristics.
(4) What are the performances of process additives?
The performance of process auxiliaries is generally summarized as follows:
(1) Reduce power consumption during plastic processing.
(2) Improve the mechanical strength, surface smoothness and surface brightness of plastic products.
(3) Eliminate the tiny crystal points on the surface of the film that are visible to the human eye or that are only observable by the microscope. Eliminate fine print "white spots".
(5) Will the use of process auxiliaries increase production costs?
On the surface, the use of any additives will incur a corresponding additional cost of use. However, for process auxiliaries, a large number of facts have proved that the additional cost of using process auxiliaries can not only reduce the cost of enterprise management caused by reduced power consumption, or increase production, the decline of product waste, and the price of raw materials, etc., several aspects of comprehensive benefits to offset the additional costs. A large number of facts prove that the use of process auxiliaries not only does not increase costs, but also reduces the total cost of production.
(6) The use of process auxiliaries is an important technical measure to increase corporate profits.
A large number of facts prove that the use of process auxiliaries can improve product quality and enhance product competitiveness, thereby increasing corporate profitability.
