Nowadays, the car is not only a simple travel tool, but also a symbol of a person's social status. Under this trend, the car intake grille, which has the largest area of the front face of a car and plays the role of the "door face" of a car, which is particularly important. In addition to meeting the functional requirements of the vehicle, it must also have aesthetic elements that conform to the trend of the times. In the eyes of many consumers, the front grille represents the first impression of a car. It directly determines the customer's desire to buy.

In the overall design of the car, the role of the air intake grille is to protect and cool the water tank. The water tank is used to cool the engine. Once the engine is not cooled, it will become hot, which will cause malfunctions and damage other components due to high temperatures. In addition, the water tank may be damaged by flying insects and stones when the car is driving at high speed. The streamlined design of the body can bounce most of the threats away, while the grille will block the large insects and stones that cannot be bounced away by the airflow.

As an air intake grille that pursues aesthetic appearance while taking into account functions, there are currently four material technologies that are filled with reinforced PP, electroplated ABS, PC/ABS alloy, and spray-free ASA/PMMA. As a wholesale Toyota Front Grille manufacturer, supplier, exporter, factory, we have summarized the advantages and disadvantages of these four materials for you.

Cost-effective material: filled reinforced PP

In the past ten years, China's polypropylene consumption has grown at an average annual rate of 10%, making China the second largest country in polypropylene consumption. Due to the advantages of heat resistance and chemical stability, PP materials are widely favored in the field of plastic applications. The PP material filled and modified by adding minerals also has the characteristics of high strength, dimensional stability, and low density, and its application to air intake grille parts can help reduce the weight of the car body. Not only that, PP raw materials have a greater cost advantage, compared with other spray paint and electroplating materials can reduce the cost by about 30%.

High-performance material: electroplated ABS material

Plastic electroplating parts overcome many shortcomings of the plastic itself. It has a metallic appearance and is easy to weld. Its electrical and thermal conductivity, solvent resistance, light resistance, heat resistance, abrasion resistance and mechanical strength have been greatly improved. At present, more than 90% of electroplated parts on the market use ABS or ABS blend as the electroplating substrate.

In terms of chemical properties, due to its molecular structure, ABS has the ability to attract free electrons from the metal coating; in terms of physical properties, the surface of ABS needs to be etched before electroplating, and the oxidized grafted rubber makes it preferentially attacked to increase the bond between the electroplating layer and the ABS surface. The structure of ABS has a great influence on bonding, including the content of butadiene flexible segment, the particle size of the butadiene flexible segment, the composition and stress level of the copolymer oriented near the surface. Increasing the content and particle size of the butadiene flexible segment and the acrylonitrile content can improve the bond strength between ABS and the coating.

The study found that ABS containing methyl styrene and ABS with low butadiene flexible segment content performed best in thermal cycle tests and had a lower thermal expansion coefficient. The thermal cycle test results of ABS with a high content of butadiene flexible segment are not ideal, and the peel adhesion and thermal expansion coefficient are high, easy to be etched, and the mechanical properties of the electroplating layer are good.

High-performance composite material: PC/ABS alloy

PC/ABS alloy material is a thermoplastic resin blended with polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS). It combines the excellent characteristics of the two materials, that is, the formability and PC's mechanical properties, impact strength, temperature resistance, ultraviolet (UV) resistance, easy electroplating and other characteristics, after electroplating or spraying process, can meet the aesthetics and performance requirements of automobile grille.

High-performance environmental protection material: spray-free ASA/PMMA

ABS and PC/ABS resins are widely used in automotive interior parts due to their light weight, flexible design, low manufacturing cost, and excellent performance. However, its weather resistance is insufficient and cannot be directly used in exterior parts. It must be painted or electroplated before it can be used.

Automobile exterior parts made by injection molding of ASA/PMMA materials can obtain high gloss, high weather resistance and high surface hardness without spraying. It can replace ABS or PC/ABS sprayed parts, which reduces environmental pollution and simplifies The production process. The spraying process not only pollutes the environment, but also has a higher overall cost. The spray-free ASA/PMMA material launched by our company reduces the overall cost by about 50%, and is deeply loved by downstream customers.